Question

an outbreak of a disease occurs, and a scientist at the centers for disease control (cdc) is in charge of determining the cause. she is studying the microorganism that is thought to be responsible for the disease. which of the following would be the most helpful to the scientist?

• pasteurs germ theory of disease
• kochs postulates
• redis experiment
• john snows map

Explanation:

To determine the most helpful tool for identifying the microorganism causing a disease:

• Pasteur’s germ theory of disease states that many diseases are caused by microorganisms but doesn’t provide a method to identify the specific causative agent of a particular outbreak.
• Koch’s postulates are a set of criteria used to prove that a specific microorganism is the cause of a specific disease. This directly applies to the scientist’s task of determining if the studied microorganism is responsible for the outbreak.
• Redi’s experiment disproved spontaneous generation for macroscopic organisms (like maggots) and is not relevant to identifying disease - causing microorganisms.
• John Snow’s map was used to identify the source of a cholera outbreak (a water pump) and is about epidemiological mapping, not identifying the causative microorganism.

Answer:

B. Koch's postulates