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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. What state is Nancy Jaax from?

2. What is the first symptom after being exposed to a filovirus?

3. What does Tom Geisbert realize the "pepper" is that he sees in the cells?

4. What is on the brush Tom Geisbert uses to fish out the sample slices?

5. What is the fatality rate of Ebola virus?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why doesn't Johnson's Kitum Cave expedition study large animals such as leopards or elephants?

2. Why is it not in the best interest of a virus to kill its host?

3. How does Nancy Jaax's hobby help her confidence?

4. Why did Ebola Zaire affect mainly women?

5. How does the mixing of monkey species relate to the idea of HIV's origin?

6. Why are the workers burning the fields? What impact could this have on the migration of microbes and the biodiversity of an area?

7. What are the results of the three tests that Jahrling runs on the monkey samples?

8. What is Nancy Jaax's dilemma as a veterinarian and as a scientist?

9. Why is Nancy angry with her father?

10. Why can't a monkey be autopsied in front of other monkeys?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the Nairobi Hospital where Monet crashed and bled out. Compare and contrast it with hospitals in the United States. What does this tell you about the difference between health care in the United States and in less-developed countries?

Essay Topic 2

The central conflict in the book can be seen as "humans vs. nature" and Ebola and Marburg virus can be considered main characters/antagonists in the book, and Preston explains that viruses could be seen as either dead or alive.

a. Using examples from the text, explain how Preston personifies viruses.

b. Preston suggests that viruses are more like predators than parasites. Explain this distinction, then describe whether you agree with it or not.

c. Explain how viruses can be both dead and alive. How would you define life? Would you consider a virus to be alive? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Preston compares HIV to Ebola throughout the book. Find examples of this comparison in the text and then compare and contrast the two diseases in the following areas:

- Methods of transmission

- How they developed and emerged from the rain forest

- Their fatality and infection rates

Make sure you explain the similarities and differences of each one, and explain how epidemiologists worked to find the origin of each.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 734 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample