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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which cave remained untouched by humans or animals for almost four million years, until its discovery in 1986?

2. What kind of virus are both the MERS and SARS viruses?

3. How long had researchers known about the Zika virus before the 2016 outbreak?

4. Osterholm notes in Chapter 17 that in his experience, what gets acted upon is related to which of the following?

5. Where did the 2012 outbreak of MERS seem to originate?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 16, who was one of the first doctors to discover the power of antibiotics and how did he make this discovery?

2. Why does Osterholm argue that cancer and heart disease kill so many more people today than they did a century ago?

3. Why does Osterholm claim a personal stake in studying mosquito-borne illnesses?

4. Why does Osterholm think many doctors prescribe antibiotics even when they think they will do the patient no good?

5. What is one of Osterholm's fears about how a virus like Ebola could possibly mutate to become worse?

6. How does Osterholm characterize most Americans' attitude towards mosquitoes?

7. What was the most serious complication of the Zika virus that merged in the Americas in 2015?

8. In 2015, where did a severe new strain of flu appear in the United States?

9. In Chapter 17, what is one remedy for antibiotic-resistant infections that Osterholm says will be more difficult, but not impossible, to develop?

10. What did Dr. Anne Schuchat at the CDC say about the tools available to fight a disease like SARS?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What was the major problem Dr. Scott Halstead identified in 2016 with a potential dengue fever vaccine, and why was the problem apparently unique to this disease? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What does Osterholm mean when he uses the term "Black Swan" in epidemiology? What kinds of public health outbreaks in his career qualify as so-called "Black Swans?" Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Why was the zika virus so dangerous - and different from earlier zika outbreaks - when it emerged in South American in 2016? Write an essay explaining your answers.

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