Biology · Science General

Disease Causative Agents

2,531 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 is not spread by a housefly?

  1. Cholera

  2. Tuberculosis

  3. Typhoid

  4. Polio

  5. Diarrhoea
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

This is the correct option. Polio, which is a serious disease that affects the nerves of the spine and often makes a person permanently unable to move, is not spread by a housefly.

Multiple choice

Match the following:

 
Human diseases Method of spreading
a. Common cold 1. taking infected food or water
b. Cholera 2. sharing infected needles, injections or by sexual contact with the infected person
c. AIDS 3. breathing air containing microorganisms

  1. a - 3, b - 1, c - 2

  2. a - 3, b - 2, c - 1

  3. a - 2, b - 1, c - 3

  4. a - 2, b - 3, c - 1

  5. a - 1, b - 3, c - 2
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

This is the correct option. Common cold spreads by breathing air containing microorganisms. Cholera spreads by taking infected food or water. AIDS spreads by sharing infected needles, injections or by sexual contact with the infected person.

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements is/are false? a. Diseases caused by viruses cannot be treated with antibiotics. b. Viruses are bigger in size than bacteria. c. Amoebic dysentery is caused by a protozoa called Entamoeba.

  1. Only a

  2. Only a and b

  3. Only b

  4. Only b and c

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

Viruses are bigger in size than bacteria, is a false statement. Thus, it is the correct option. Viruses are much smaller in size than bacteria.

Multiple choice

Pea soup diarrhoea is the feature of which disease?

  1. Typhoid disease

  2. TB

  3. Cholera

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

Pea soup diarrhoea is the feature of Typhoid fever. This is an acute bacterial disease caused by Salmonella typhi. Typhoid germs are passed in the feces and, to some extent, the urine of infected people. The germs are spread by eating or drinking water or food contaminated by feces (or urine) from the infected individual.

Multiple choice

If a woman gets a gonorrhea infection then the most probable site of infection is

  1. rectum

  2. vagina

  3. cervix

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

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by a bacterium. Gonorrhea can grow easily in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract, including the cervix (opening to the womb), uterus (womb), and fallopian tubes (egg canals) in women, and in the urethra (urine canal) in women and men. The bacterium can also grow in the mouth, throat, eyes, and anus.

Multiple choice

If one can diagnose urethritis and cervicitis, the disease is most likely to be

  1. Bells palsy

  2. Syphilis

  3. Hyper sclerosis

  4. Gonorrhea
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

If one can diagnose urethritis and cervicitis, the disease is most likely to be Gonorrhea. Most of the time, a urine test can be used to test for gonorrhea. However, if a person has had oral and/or anal sex, swabs may be used to collect samples from the throat and/or rectum. In some cases, a swab may be used to collect a sample from a man's urethra (urine canal) or a woman's cervix (opening to the womb).

Multiple choice

All of the following diseases are caused by virus, except

  1. Typhoid

  2. Jaundice

  3. Mumps

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

Typhoid fever is a severe infection caused by a bacterium, Salmonella typhi. S. typhi is in the same family of bacteria as the type spread by chicken and eggs, commonly known as salmonella poisoning or food poisoning. S. typhi bacteria do not have vomiting and diarrhea as the most prominent symptoms of their presence in humans. Instead, persistently high fever is the hallmark of S. typhi infection. 

Multiple choice

A term that may be applied to all disease-producing micro-organisms is

  1. Saprophytic

  2. Pathogenic

  3. Viruses

  4. Staptococci
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Pathogens are organisms, frequently microorganisms, or components of these organisms, that cause disease. Microbial pathogens include various species of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Many diseases caused by microbial pathogens, and the frequency of these diseases, are a national security issue. 

Multiple choice

Which of the following diseases has posed a serious threat the world over?

  1. Tumour

  2. AIDS

  3. Tuberculosis

  4. Paralytic stroke
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

AIDS can pose a serious threat to the economic and social development of South Asian countries including India, which has chunk of regions HIV infected population, the World Bank has said. There are estimated 2.6 million people suffering from the dreaded disease in the region. 

Multiple choice

Which of the following diseases is NOT caused by a virus

  1. Cancer

  2. Rabies

  3. AIDS

  4. Influenza

  5. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Cancer is a disease caused by the uncontrolled division of abnormal cells, not by a viral infection. Rabies, AIDS, Influenza, and SARS are all caused by viruses.