Question

You were preparing the slides and accidentally spilled some broth inoculated with unknown but potentially highly pathogenic bacteria over the table. Your partner did not notice that and put the marker on that spot while labeling the slides. Then he passed marker to the other working pair of students. Everybody routinely washed their hands with regular soap by the end of the lab and left home.

How many direct and indirect transmission episodes could you expect after all?
A. 1 direct and 3 indirect transmissions
B. 1 direct and 2 indirect transmissions
C. 3 indirect transmissions
D. Unknown number of direct and indirect transmissions

Answer 1

C. 3 indirect transmissions

Step-by-step explanation:

In epidemiology, direct transmission is considered to occur when an individual has direct contact with a pathogen, which infects him and develops a disease. Indirect infections, on the other hand, occur when individuals come into contact with the pathogen through a transmission vehicle.

In this case, we can conclude that in the question above, there were 3 cases of indirect transmission. This is because all people who had contact with the pathogen, established that contact through the contaminated marker. In this case, the marker is a transmission vehicle.