You can use information on the World Wide Web to answer the questions below.

EXERCISE 1:
DISEASES CAUSED BY VIRUSES, MONERANS, PROTISTS, AND FUNGI

Though the word "disease" usually brings to mind bacteria and viruses, the protist and fungi kingdoms also include disease-causing organisms. This exercise will familiarize you with Internet resources on disease and taxonomy.

Print out the worksheet below and click on the links to learn more about diseases caused by these organisms.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Name ____________________________________________________________________________

Link and Think:
Diseases Caused by Viruses, Monerans, Protists, and Fungi

You will be visiting several different resources dealing with health, classification, and epidemiology. You will be directed to specific pages to find the information needed to complete this worksheet.

1. The four diseases listed in the table below are caused by four different types of organisms: viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protists. Open the New York State Department of Health Web site and get to the Communicable Diseases Fact Sheets by clicking first on Info for Consumers (on the left) and then on Communicable Diseases in the alphabetized list. Use the information from the fact sheets to complete the table below. (Note: The fact sheets may not state what kind of organism causes malaria--use the process of elimination or refer to your book.)

Disease	Type of Agent	Symptoms	Means of Transmission	Treatment
Brucellosis	bacteria	fever, headache, weakness, chills, ache	oral: from diseased cows, through milk or discharges	tetracycline/streptomycin (antibiotics)
Ringworm
Anthrax
Malaria
Hepatitis A

Ringworm

2. The three genera associated with ringworm and related cutaneous (skin) infections are Microsporum, Trichophyton, and Epidermophyton. Are these three genera from the same family, order, or class? Visit the NCBI/GenBank Taxonomy database and search it using one of the genus names. Click the link indicated with the pointed hand icon for information on that genus. This link will take you to a page listing the levels of classification for this genus. Make note of the taxons listed. Repeat this process for the other two genera. You can tell what level each taxon name belongs to by the suffix: -etes indicates class and subclass, -ales indicates order, -ceae indicates family. Circle the taxon level, or rank, that the three genera share.

class

order

family

Anthrax

3. Anthrax is caused by an organism called Bacillus anthracis. Search for this name on the NCBI/GenBank Taxonomy Browser. Based on what you've read about Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, what composes the outermost layer of Bacillus anthracis' cell wall?

glycoprotein

protein

Malaria

4. Malaria is caused by certain members of the genus Plasmodium, such as Plasmodium falciparum. When you search the NCBI/GenBank Taxonomy Browser for this name, you will find that many different isolates of this species are found all over the world. Circle the countries where P. falciparum is found.

Ghana

South Africa

Japan

Thailand

Argentina

Honduras

5. What geographical feature do these countries share that explains why they are prone to malaria? If you need help, read the malaria information on the Common Infectious Diseases Worldwide page from infoplease.com®. Circle your answer.

a. They are in the tropics where mosquitoes live.
b. They are in Africa and the Americas because only people of African descent contract malaria.
c. They are near the ocean because P. falciparum spends part of its life cycle free-swimming in saltwater.

Hepatitis A

6. Take a look at the Big Picture Book of Viruses. Based on the name hepatitis. . .

a. Which family do you think the Hepatitis A virus belongs to?

_________________________________________________________

b. Is it a DNA or RNA virus family? ____________________

c. Are the members of this family covered by an envelope? _______________________

 

d. Click on the name of the family--what Hepatitis virus do you find there?

__________________________________

7. Take a look at the Big Picture Book of Virus's Alphabetical List of Virus Names (Taxa) and find Hepatitis A, B, and C in the list. Based on this information…

1. Does Hepatitis A belong to the same family as Hepatitis B?
2. What families do Hepatitis A, B, and C belong to?

--------------------------------------------------------------

Click here to check your answers.

[top]  

Unit 4 Index

Learning Links
Chapter 14 || Chapter 15 || Chapter 16

In the News || Link and Think
Spotlight on Careers || Teachers' Lounge

In the Community
Chapter 14 || Chapter 15 || Chapter 16

---

Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved.
Privacy Statement, Terms of Use, Permissions