Viruses Homework And Study Guide Answer Key
Tatum Cartwright
No biology or life science class is complete without a detailed study of viruses and how they affect our lives. Students need review and reinforcement to make sure that they master the information. I use this document for homework assignments. Students complete a section of this 4-page document each night during my teaching of this unit. When completed, it is the perfect study guide review for the unit test. Choose to use the traditional printable version, or the paperless, digital Google Apps version. Both Google Slides and Google Forms versions are included.
I use this initially as homework assignments. As I cover the material on viruses, I assign a section of the questions as homework. After a few nights of homework, the student has a completed study guide on viruses.
[The scrolling letters rapidly speed up and wipe off the screen, revealing another field of hundreds of letters. The scene pulls out farther and farther away, showing thousands of As, Cs, Gs, and Us.]
[A woman sneezes and the camera follows the trajectory of her sneeze, passing silhouettes of people walking, talking, and sitting together. As the scene moves by, the silhouettes fill up with letters representing genetic code and each figure has a short sequence of letters in a different color.]
[The screen again fills with letters. Certain lines are highlighted and inset images shoot out: computer models of tiny viral proteins of different shapes. They are labeled NSP1 Protein, ORF3a Protein, and Spike Protein.]
[The microscope lens clicks by, taking us wider and wider in scale. We begin with a close up of an ant running on a blanket. We zoom out to see two people sitting on the blanket. And zoom out again to an overhead view showing their blanket as one of many in a park.]
NARRATOR: Using estimates for things like the total number of infections in a city, or the percentage of people wearing masks, researchers run their disease models many times to determine likely outcomes.
NARRATOR: Using genomic sequencing, researchers track flu infections all over the world, noting how different strains are evolving and which vaccines have worked most effectively against them.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, these models are saving lives. Epidemiologists use them to monitor the spread of the pandemic, to evaluate efforts to control it, and to guide policymakers as they make decisions about measures like vaccination, school closing, and allocating healthcare resources.
Kong, an assistant professor in the Mathematics and Statistics Department at York University in Toronto, Canada, grew up in Cameroon, the third of five children of a single mother, a subsistence farmer. As a little boy he would finish his math homework quickly, then help his friends with theirs. He worked his way through college as a secondary-school math teacher.
Kong and his colleagues used this approach to study the effects of what he calls self-medication on the spread of COVID-19. By self-medication, he means unproven treatments that some people believe will cure or prevent the disease, which they rely on instead of on proven treatment.
In the United States, for example, some people self-medicated with ginger, hydroxychloroquine, or Ivermectin. In Ghana, some believed a particular kind of green tea would keep them safe or cure them. In Cameroon, it was a certain very strong alcoholic drink, or local traditional medicines.
Microbiology is the study of the biology of microscopic organisms - viruses, bacteria, algae, fungi, slime molds, and protozoa. The methods used to study and manipulate these minute and mostly unicellular organisms differ from those used in most other biological investigations. Recombinant DNA technology uses microorganisms, particularly bacteria and viruses, to amplify DNA sequences and generate the encoded products. Moving genes from one microorganism to another, or amplifying them within microorganisms, permits application of microbial skills to solve medical and environmental problems. Many microorganisms are unique among living things in their ability to use gaseous nitrogen from the air for their nutritional requirements, or to degrade complex macromolecules in such materials as wood. By rearranging the genes that control these and other processes, scientists seek to engineer microorganisms that will process wastes, fertilize agricultural land, produce desirable biomolecules, and solve other problems inexpensively and safely.
Microbiologists pursue careers in many fields, including agricultural, environmental, food, and industrial microbiology; public health; resource management; basic research; education; and pharmaceuticals. Jobs in all of these fields are available at the BS level as well as the MS and PhD levels (see our guide for applying to graduate schools). The Microbiology major also incorporates the requirements expected for admission to medical, dental, and other health-professional schools, and to graduate schools in microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and related disciplines.
On this page, you will find answers to some of the most common questions people are asking about COVID-19 disease and vaccines. Just click on the question of interest and the answer will appear below it.
With this said, some people might still be concerned that any DNA fragments are in the vaccine at all. First, it is important to realize that we are exposed to DNA fragments all the time. Anytime we eat plants or animals, we consume DNA, so our bodies need to protect against damage from foreign DNA. And while it is true that when we consume these fragments, they do not necessarily enter our bloodstream, like those in an injection will, we can still be reassured that our cells are designed to protect our DNA. Here are three relevant examples of how cells protect our DNA:
Some have also suggested that because the mRNA vaccine is delivered in lipid particles, the aforementioned description is not accurate. However, this is also a misconception. While the lipid particles help deliver the mRNA into a cell, the vaccine components are taken into compartments called endosomes. Endosomes contain acids and enzymes that break down the lipids and most of the DNA fragments, so they are quickly destroyed.
A fourth vaccine, J&J/Janssen adenovirus-based vaccine, is no longer available in the U.S., but it is still used in other countries. This vaccine contains a replication-defective adenovirus that has been altered to include the gene (DNA) of the spike protein for the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. Because of the availability of other vaccines and due to the rare but serious side effects associated with this vaccine (i.e., Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS)), and its monovalent formula, this vaccine was removed from the U.S. vaccine supply in the spring of 2023.
The general rule of thumb related to CDC guidance is that individuals in the U.S. receive a single booster at least eight weeks after their last dose of COVID-19 vaccine. However, some nuance exists for different age groups and vaccines, as shown on this CDC reference table. As such, if you are not sure whether you need an additional dose, we recommend speaking to your healthcare provider.
When a group of 5- to 17-year-olds who experienced myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination were followed to see how they did, about half were hospitalized and none died. Most of those who were hospitalized went home within three days. In addition, according to their cardiologists, three months after the event, more than 6 in 10 were fully recovered and an additional 2 in 10 had likely fully recovered, but tests were still outstanding.
A review of the literature, published in August 2022, found that an individual is at least 7 times more likely to experience myocarditis resulting from a COVID-19 infection than from a COVID-19 vaccine.
Studies have shown that children younger than 5 years of age do not experience myocarditis following receipt of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, so vaccinating young children before the risk of myocarditis increases is one way to avoid this potential side effect. Importantly, immunization of our youngest population against COVID-19 has been extremely limited, so it is possible that over time, as more youngsters are vaccinated, we would identify a low risk for myocarditis in young children as well. However, it is also possible that we would see a greater risk from infection compared with vaccination. These are the types of information we need to continue working toward understanding when it comes to this disease.
While older individuals can experience myocarditis in the first week after vaccination, the risk is greatest for males between 12 and 39 years of age. The risk for females is lower than for males, but still can occur and is more prevalent between 12 and 29 years of age.
In the U.S., the CDC recommends that anytime someone has a respiratory illness, they try to stay away from others until their symptoms start improving and they have not had a fever for at least 24 hours.
Likewise, while the CDC previously recommended delaying vaccination for patients who were treated with antibody-based therapies, data now demonstrate that the modest reduction in antibody responses seen in these patients does not warrant the delay. With this said, most recently infected individuals are still recommended to wait for about three months before getting vaccinated, so the antibodies introduced by treatment are unlikely to be problematic anyway.
The goal of vaccination is to prevent serious illness. This is achieved by generating immune memory cells, such as B cells and T cells. These cells are typically long-lived and reside in the bone marrow, bloodstream, and lymph glands to monitor for exposure to a pathogen. If the pathogen is detected, these memory cells quickly become activated and stimulate the immune response to efficiently fight the infection before the infection can get out of control and cause serious illness. In the case of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, studies demonstrated that high levels of memory cells are generated, and as variants emerged, we saw that the levels of memory cells generated by both the mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) and adenovirus-based (J&J/Janssen) vaccines were sufficient to prevent serious illness in most cases. As such, these findings would not warrant a booster dose.
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