Causes of Death QuizWrite your answers on your Blendspace

worksheet. Use your best guess.

Good luck! You may check your answers at the end of the quiz.

1. In the 1700s and 1800s a terrible, wasting disease killed thousands of European and American city dwellers. What disease was this?

a. AIDS

b. Lung cancer

c. Polio

d. Tuberculosis

2. What infectious disease causing severe fever and chills plagued settlers in the Southern and Midwestern United States during the 1800s and early 1900s?

a. Legionnaire disease

b. Lyme disease

c. Malaria

d. Schistosomiasis

3. Most deaths among U.S. servicemen in 1918 were due to what cause?

a. Automobile accidents

b. Flu

c. Injuries sustained on the battlefields of World War I

d. Plague

4. Which of the following diseases has been recognized since antiquity? (since ancient times)

a. AIDS

b. Ebola hemorrhagic fever

c. Guinea worm disease

d. Legionnaire disease

5. What disease spread from ONE person to wipe out more than 20,000 people in Fiji in 1875?

a. Smallpox

b. Measles

c. Tuberculosis

d. Hepatitis

6. Before the arrival of Europeans to the New World, which disease had American Indians never faced?

a. Influenza

b. Malaria

c. Plague

d. All of the above

7. For which of the following do we NOT have a vaccine?

a. Whooping cough

b. Smallpox

c. Polio

d. HIV

8. The vast majority of human deaths due to rabies worldwide come from exposure to what animal?

a. Dogs

b. Rats

c. Bats

d. Cows

9. Where do most deaths from infectious disease occur?

a. Southeast Asia

b. Southern Africa

c. Central America

d. North America

10. According to the World Health Organization, which of the following diseases caused the most deaths in 1998?

a. AIDS

b. Diabetes

c. Lung cancer

d. Pneumonia

ANSWERSCauses of Death Quiz

1. In the 1700s and 1800s a terrible, wasting disease killed thousands of European and American city dwellers. What disease was this?

D. Tuberculosis (TB)

TB killed 1 of every 4 Americans in the 1800s. The disease is still a leading killer globally. Most people that contract the TB bacterium have a strong immune system that prevents its growth, but people with an immune-weakening condition, such as HIV, cannot prevent the TB bacteria.

2. What infectious disease causing severe fever and chills plagued settlers in the Southern and Midwestern United States during the 1800s and early 1900s?

C. Malaria

Improved socioeconomic conditions, mosquito control measures, and availability of medicine led to the virtual elimination of this disease in the U.S.

Malaria is caused by a protist

3. Most deaths among U.S. servicemen in 1918 were due to what cause?

B. Flu

The Influenza (flu) epidemic of 1918 is estimated to have killed 30 million people. The movement of troops during WWI, accompanied by crowding, poor nutrition, and general poor living conditions contributed to the rapid spread of the flu.

4. Which of the following diseases has been recognized since antiquity? (since ancient times)

C. Guinea worm disease Mentioned in biblical texts,

Guinea-worm disease is transmitted exclusively by drinking stagnant water contaminated with tiny water fleas that carry infective guinea-worm larvae. Inside the body, the larvae mature into worms, growing up to 1 meter in length. People are the only known reservoirs for the disease.

In the human body, the larvae are released and migrate through the intestinal wall into body tissues, where they develop into adult worms. About one year after the infection, an agonizingly painful blister forms - 90% of the time on the lower leg – and the worm emerges accompanied by a burning sensation.

One form of treatment is to wet the skin to stimulate the worm to stick its head out and catch the head in a splint stick. The worm is then slowly extracted, over the course of weeks, by rolling it around the stick (If it is pulled too quickly, the worm will break in 2 causing greater problems). This treatment is the origin of the caduceus symbol for medicine (shown at right)

5. What disease spread from ONE person to wipe out more than 20,000 people in Fiji in 1875?

B. Measles

After contracting measles from a visit to Australia, a Fijian chief’s son passed it on through coughs and sneezes. Within 4 months, more than 20,000 people on the isolated island had died.

Measles is caused by a virus

6. Before the arrival of Europeans to the New World, which disease had American Indians never faced?

D. All of the above

Before Europeans first arrived in the late 1400s, the New World did not have influenza (flu), malaria or plague… or smallpox, measles, leprosy, or yellow fever. The populations of American Indians fell 50-90% over the ensuing years.

7. For which of the following do we NOT have a vaccine?

D. HIV

Researchers have been working for decades to find a vaccine for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) which causes AIDS. AIDS has already killed some 25 million people worldwide.

HIV is caused by a virus

8. The vast majority of human deaths due to rabies worldwide come from exposure to what animal?

A. Dogs

More than 99% of people who die from rabies worldwide contracted the disease from rabid dogs. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, causing encephalopathy and ultimately death.

Rabies is caused by a virus.

9. Where do most deaths from infectious disease occur?

B. Southern Africa

Lack of access to affordable vaccines, clean water, and proper nutrition open the door for malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and other diseases.

10. According to the World Health Organization, which of the following infectious diseases caused the most deaths in 1998?

D. pneumonia Pneumonia was the 3rd

highest killer overall – behind heart disease and cerebrovascular disease (non-infectious)

Pneumonia can be caused by a virus, bacteria, or fungus