A painless skin sore with a black center that appears after handling hides from infected livestock suggests the skin form of anthrax, a bacterial disease also feared as a biological weapon.
Missing Word
anthrax
Anthrax is caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis and can be acquired through the skin, by inhalation, by ingestion or by injection. The cutaneous form produces a painless sore with a black center, and the bacterium's use in attacks makes recognizing it a preparedness skill.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 2
Nurses help contain an outbreak early by promptly reporting cases and unusual clusters of illness to public health authorities, as the law requires.
Missing Word
reporting
Many infectious diseases are legally reportable, and prompt reports let public health agencies detect an outbreak, trace contacts and start control measures early. Noticing an unusual pattern, such as many people with the same rare illness, is also how a deliberate biological attack is often first recognized.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 3
An epidemic that passes from person to person over an extended period, sustaining transmission in the population, is called a propagated epidemic.
Missing Word
propagated
A propagated epidemic spreads from one person to another over time, unlike a point source epidemic in which everyone is exposed at once. Knowing the pattern guides surveillance and control measures.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 4
The deliberate release of bacteria, viruses or toxins to cause illness, death or fear in a population is called bioterrorism.
Missing Word
bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is the intentional use of biological agents as weapons. Nurses help by recognizing unusual illness patterns early, reporting cases to public health authorities and applying infection control.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 5
Ebola first reached people from wild animals, so it is described as a zoonotic disease, one that passes from animals to humans.
Missing Word
zoonotic
A zoonotic disease is one transmitted from animals to people. Ebola began this way but now also spreads from person to person through body fluids.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 6
Keeping people who were exposed to a contagious disease but are not sick apart from others, to see whether illness develops, is called quarantine.
Missing Word
quarantine
Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of exposed people who are not yet ill. Nurses teach quarantine rules during outbreaks so that anyone who becomes sick does not spread the infection.
Category: Infection Control
Question 7
Keeping a person who is already sick with a contagious disease separated from others, usually in a private room, is called isolation.
Missing Word
isolation
Isolation separates people who are ill from those who are healthy. It applies to patients with an active infection, while quarantine applies to exposed people who are not yet sick.
Category: Infection Control
Question 8
When private rooms run short during an outbreak, placing patients infected with the same organism together in a shared area is called cohorting.
Missing Word
cohorting
Cohorting groups patients who have the same infection so they can share space and dedicated staff, which reduces transmission to other patients, staff and visitors when single rooms are scarce.
Category: Infection Control
Question 9
When a hurricane forces care into a temporary shelter, nurses set up triage areas so that arriving patients are sorted by how urgently they need care and limited supplies go furthest.
Missing Word
triage
Triage sorts patients by the urgency of their needs and, when patients outnumber resources, by their likelihood of survival, so limited staff and supplies help the most people. When a disaster moves care out of the hospital, nurses set up triage areas and organize medical supplies in the shelter.
Category: Environmental Disasters
Question 10
A disease that spreads across international borders and sickens people on several continents is called a pandemic.
Missing Word
pandemic
A pandemic is a global outbreak of infectious disease. An epidemic is a rise in cases above the expected level within one population or area, while a pandemic crosses borders, as COVID-19 did, and strains health care systems in many countries at once.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 11
Removing chemical, biological or radioactive material from a person's skin and clothing so it does not spread to others is called decontamination.
Missing Word
decontamination
Decontamination removes hazardous material from exposed people before they enter the main care area. It protects the patient, staff and other patients from further exposure.
Category: Technological Hazards
Question 12
When many people are first exposed to one contaminated source and the infection then keeps spreading from person to person, the outbreak is called a mixed epidemic.
Missing Word
mixed
A mixed epidemic combines both transmission patterns: a shared exposure to a single source followed by person-to-person spread, as when a foodborne illness passes to household contacts. Recognizing the pattern tells public health teams to address both the original source and the ongoing transmission.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 13
Because radioactive iodine released in a nuclear accident collects in one gland, exposed people are monitored for years afterward for thyroid cancer.
Missing Word
thyroid
The thyroid gland takes up iodine, including radioactive iodine, so its cancer risk rises after exposure, especially in children. This cancer may not appear until long after the release, so follow-up continues for years.
Category: Technological Hazards
Question 14
Long-term rebuilding, housing assistance and counseling services for survivors belong to the recovery phase of a disaster.
Missing Word
recovery
The recovery phase moves a community from immediate response toward restoring services, infrastructure and social networks. It addresses physical, emotional and economic effects and is often a long process.
Category: Preparedness and Recovery
Question 15
Because high-dose radiation suppresses the bone marrow and its production of white blood cells, a new fever in an exposed patient, even a low-grade one, is reported at once as a possible sign of infection.
Missing Word
fever
With too few white blood cells, the body cannot produce the usual redness, swelling or pus, so a fever may be the first and only sign of infection. Strict hand hygiene, limiting contact with sick visitors and prompt reporting help keep an infection from becoming life-threatening.
Category: Technological Hazards