Q 01/05

John Snow traced the 1854 Soho cholera outbreak to a public water pump where?

A) Broad Street

B) Fleet Street

C) Carnaby Street

D) Baker Street

Answer · why

A) Broad Street

His dot map of cases helped overturn the miasma theory; he also gave Queen Victoria chloroform in childbirth.

Q 02/05

Which explanation of disease, blaming 'bad air', did John Snow's cholera work help discredit?

A) Miasma

B) Humoral imbalance

C) Divine punishment

D) Contagion

Answer · why

A) Miasma

Officials replaced the pump handle after the outbreak faded and initially rejected his water-borne explanation.

Q 03/05

Ignaz Semmelweis cut childbed fever deaths in 1847 by having doctors wash their hands in what?

A) Chlorinated lime solution

B) Freshly boiled water

C) Dilute carbolic acid

D) Distilled grain alcohol

Answer · why

A) Chlorinated lime solution

Mortality on his ward fell from 18.3% to 1.2% within months, yet colleagues rejected him and he died in an asylum in 1865.

Q 04/05

The 'Semmelweis reflex' describes what?

A) Washing hands automatically after examining a patient

B) A doctor's flinch when exposed to infection

C) Overreacting to a small outbreak

D) Rejecting new evidence that contradicts established beliefs

Answer · why

D) Rejecting new evidence that contradicts established beliefs

The term is a nod to the physicians who were offended by the suggestion that their hands were unclean.

Q 05/05

In 1796 Jenner inoculated James Phipps with material from which disease to protect against smallpox?

A) Cowpox

B) Chickenpox

C) Measles

D) Anthrax

Answer · why

A) Cowpox

The pus came from milkmaid Sarah Nelmes and a cow named Blossom; 'vaccine' derives from the Latin for cow.