Biology · Science General

Disease Causative Agents

2,258 Questions

Disease causative agents questions test your understanding of viral, bacterial, and fungal infections, along with their transmission methods. These are common topics in general science sections of SSC and railways exams. Practice these questions to accurately identify disease pathogens and symptoms.

Viral diseasesFoodborne illnessesDisease transmission methodsExtrinsic disease factorsCommon pathogens

Disease Causative Agents Questions

Multiple choice

Which of the following diseases are called viral diseases?

  1. Dengue, influenza and typhoid

  2. Common cold, typhoid and anthrax

  3. Anthrax, influenza and typhoid

  4. Anthrax, common cold and influenza

  5. Common cold, influenza and dengue
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

All these are caused by viruses. Common cold, influenza and dengue are viral diseases. Thus, this option is correct.

Multiple choice

Which of the following diseases are caused by a pathogen?

  1. Cholera and malaria

  2. Malaria and cancer

  3. Cancer and diabetes

  4. Cancer and influnza

  5. Influenza and high blood pressure
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

A pathogen is used to mean an infectious agent. They are both caused by pathogens or microbes. 

Multiple choice

Minamata disease is caused by the intake of food contaminated by which heavy metal compound?

  1. Copper

  2. Nickel

  3. Mercury

  4. Uranium

  5. Lead
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

In 1952, the first incidents of mercury poisoning appear in the population of Minimata Bay in Japan, caused by consumption of fish polluted with mercury, bringing over 500 fatalities. Since then Japan has had the strictest environmental laws in the industrialised world.Minamata disease is an encephalopathy and peripheral neuropathy caused by daily intake of fish and shellfish highly contaminated by methylmercury.

Multiple choice

Which of the following diseases is caused by a virus:

  1. Ploimyetis

  2. Malaria

  3. Whooping

  4. Ring worm
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Polio is caused by the poliovirus, which is a viral infection. Malaria is caused by a protozoan (Plasmodium), whooping cough is bacterial (Bordetella pertussis), and ringworm is a fungal infection.

Multiple choice

Consider the following diseases

  1. Hepatitis B
  2. Rabies
  3. Mumps
  4. Tetanus Which of these is/are caused by virus?

  1. 1 only

  2. 3 and 4

  3. 1, 2 and 3

  4. 1, 3 and 4
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Hepatitis B is caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Rabies is caused by the Rabies virus (RABV). Mumps is caused by the Mumps virus (MuV). Tetanus is caused by the bacterium Clostridium tetani, not by a virus. Therefore, only options 1, 2, and 3 are viral diseases, making option C correct.

Multiple choice

Staphylococcus is a Gram-positive bacteria, which includes several species that can cause a wide variety of infections in humans and other animals through infection or the production of toxins. Staphylococcal toxins are a common cause of food poisoning. What is the shape of the causative agent?

  1. Rod-shaped

  2. Spherical

  3. Spiral

  4. Comma shaped

  5. Square
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Coccus are spherical bacterium, staphylococcus are small colonies of such bacteria.

Multiple choice

Christmas disease is another name for _________.

  1. haemophilia B

  2. hepatitis B

  3. the Down's syndrome

  4. sleeping sickness

  5. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

It is a blood clotting disorder caused by a mutation of the Factor IX gene, leading to a deficiency of Factor IX. It is the second most common form of haemophilia, rarer than haemophilia A. It is sometimes called Christmas disease

Multiple choice

Which of the following diseases is not sexually transmitted?

  1. Syphilis

  2. Gonorrhea

  3. Typhoid

  4. AIDS
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and AIDS (HIV) are sexually transmitted infections. Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria transmitted through contaminated food and water, not sexual contact.