After a Particularly Warm and Wet Summer, There Is a Spike

question 188

Multiple Choice

After a particularly warm and wet summer, there is a spike in the population of tsetse flies in a rural sub-Saharan village.Many of the inhabitants begin to complain of fever and aching muscles.What might be the cause of their suffering?

• A) The increase in tsetse flies has created more insect vectors for the kinetoplastid Trypanosoma brucei, resulting in more individuals struck by the sleeping sickness.
• B) An increase in Trypanosoma brucei has provided the tsetse fly with an additional food supply, and the flies are now able to multiply more rapidly and bite more individuals.
• C) Tsetse flies thrive on blood meals; their increase is a result of feeding on immunocompromised individuals.
• D) Tsetse fly larvae attract water molds, resulting in contamination of the water supply and subsequent infection of humans by oomycete pathogens.
• E) None of the above; the presence of the kinetoplastid Trypanosoma brucei is not related to the increase in the number of people suffering from the symptoms described.

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Definitions:

Incus

A small anvil-shaped bone in the middle ear that, along with the malleus and stapes, helps transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear.

Stapes

The smallest bone in the human body, located in the middle ear, transmitting sound vibrations from the incus to the inner ear.

Malleus

A small bone in the middle ear that transmits sound vibrations from the eardrum to the incus; part of the auditory ossicles.

Free Nerve Endings

These are unspecialized afferent nerve fibers ending within the epidermis, responsible for sensing pain, temperature, and touch.