A 17-Year-Old Boy Is Hospitalized with Recent-Onset Insomnia, Headaches, Periodic

question 305

Multiple Choice

A 17-year-old boy is hospitalized with recent-onset insomnia, headaches, periodic agitation, and dysphagia.  He is a high school student interested in becoming a veterinarian.  He owns a snake, fish, and parrot and, about 4 weeks ago, went on a field trip to study bats in a cave.  The patient has no known medical problems and is not taking any medications.  He does not consume alcohol and has never used illicit drugs.  Despite hospitalization and treatment, he develops painful spasms, progressive paralysis, and coma and dies.  Which of the following interventions would have most likely prevented this student from developing this illness?

• A)Cellular receptor inhibitor drug
• B)Inactivated vaccine
• C)Interferon therapy
• D)Live attenuated vaccine
• E)Toxoid vaccine
• F)Viral enzyme inhibitor drug

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Definitions:

Placebo

A substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value, commonly used as a control in testing new drugs.

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical measure that describes the degree to which two variables move in relation to each other, ranging from -1 to 1.

Perfect Correlation

A statistical relationship indicating a flawless direct or inverse linkage between two variables.

Matched Design

A research design that matches the experimental participants with control participants who are similar on key characteristics.