Question

Which of the following is NOT caused by a prokaryotic organism?

		Tuberculosis
		plague
		Botulism
		infectious mononucleosis

Answer 1

(d) Infectious mononucleosis

An infection caused by Epstein Barr virus is known as infectious mononucleosis or glandular fever, transmitted by saliva and is prevalent in teenagers. Preliminary symptoms include fever, tiredness, enlargement of lymph nodes with serious implications of swelling of spleen and liver. The virus begins replication in the pharynx of the host, followed by B cells. immune response generated against in viral infected B cells results in accumulation of T cytotoxic cells in the pharynx which causes swelling of lymph nodes present in the neck.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, mainly affecting lungs as Mycobacterium inavdes alveolar cells by replicating continuously in alveolar macrophages and eventually causes immune cell death.

Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis is a type of bacterial infection spreaded through fleas. Symptoms of plague are headache weakness and fever. Transmission of plague occurs by exposure to contaminated soil, faeces, water, droplets of the infected person or direct physical contact.

Botulism is caused by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Disease is mainly caused by botulinum toxin (neurotoxin) which prevents release of neurotransmitters for eg. Acetylcholine and is spreaded by contaminated food and water which contains bacterial spores.