MICROORGANISMS

I Complete the sentences with the correct word.

bugs /bacteriology / viral / microbiologists/ strains / germs / host / bacteriologists / microbes /

virology / bacterial / infectious / parasite /virologists / pathogenic /bacteriological

1 The study of micro-organisms is called [microbiology] and scientists doing these studies are called
___________.

2 The study of bacteria is called _____________ and specialists in this area are _____________.

3 The study of viruses is _____________ and scientists are called ____________.

4 Bacteria and viruses are also referred to as _____________, ____________, or _____________.

5 The adjectives relating to bacteria is ___________ and ____________ and the adjective relating to
virus is __________.

6 Different varieties of a particular type of bacteria or virus are ____________.

7 A _____________ is an organism that depends for its existence by living on and feeding off another
organism its ____________.

8 Diseases transmitted by contact between people are _____________.

9 Organisms that cause disease are described as _____________.

II Match the two parts of these sentences:

1 Pasteur convinced a sceptical medical community not only of the micro-organism’s existence but
of the possibility of vaccinating against it.

2 How does salmonella, a bacterium that attacks the lining of the stomach, affect the joints?

3 Though the Ebola virus may be the world’s most vicious virus,

4 Nick Ogden is looking for a bug, Borrelia burgdorferi, which can lurk in the saliva of the ticks that
live on sheep. It is the bug which causes Lyme disease.

5 The culprit was a nasty strain of bacterium Escherichia coli. This particular germ lives in the bowels
of cattle, where in most cases it stays. Last November, however, probably while a batch of cows
were being slaughtered at a Californian meat-packing plant, some of the animals’ intestines were cut
by butchering knives.

6 The Kenyan yellow fever epidemic undoubtedly got out of control because of that regional
laboratory’s failure to diagnose the cause of the outbreak.

7 In the end, there are fundamental reasons that argue strongly against the disaster scenario in
which some superbug that
 B

a) combines the lethalness of Ebola with the rapid air-to-air infectiousness of flu suddenly emerges
and wipes out a substantial chunk of the human race.

b) For other microbes the labs were even less prepared.

c) In 1885, he tried out rabies vaccine on a nine-year old boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog.

d) Inman believes fragments of protein from the bacteria lodge in the joint.

e) Lyme borreliosis, as it is properly called, was first recognized 20 years ago, after an outbreak of
arthritis in Lyme, Connecticut.

f) the biggest single killer is still the tuberculosis bacillus.

g) The E.coli spilled out, mixing with meat that was about to be shipped to fast food restaurants.

III Death by sandwich

Complete the text. Use:

bacteria 3x bacteriological 1x food poisoning 3x pathogenic 1x

The rapid pace of modern life was yesterday cited as a main cause of the rising number of ________
cases in Britain. Dr. Patrick Wall, of the Public Health Laboratory, said that the rising demand for fast
food, especially the lunchtime takeaway sandwich, had greatly increased the breeding ground for
__________ ___________. Their effects range from stomach upsets to miscarriages and death…

One study by environmental health officers found that 92 out of 113 sandwiches failed to meet one
or more of the criteria used to determine ________ quality. The _________ in some included listeria,
salmonella, staphylococcus (which is spread by unwashed hands, open wounds, sneezing and
coughing) and Escherichia coli.

Last year there were 82,000 incidents of _________ reported to the Public Health Laboratory, a rise
of 14,000 on the previous year. Cases have increased five-fold in a decade. About 60 people a year
die.

No definitive statistics are gathered on the causes of _________ but a study by the Consumer
Association’s magazine Which? last year found that one in six sandwiches surveyed contained
___________.