HESI A2 Exam Version 1 (Reading Comprehension) 2022 Directions: The following questions are based on a number of reading passages. Each passage is followed by a series of questions. Read each passage carefully, and then answer the questions based on it. You may reread the passage as often as you wish. When you havefinished answering the questions based on one passage, go right on to the next passage.Choose the best answer based on the information given and implied.Questions 1 – 4 refer to the following passage. Passage 1 Infectious Disease An infectious disease is a clinically evident illness resulting from the presence of pathogenic agents, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multi-cellular parasites, and unusual proteins known as prions. Infectious pathologies are also called communicable diseases or transmissiblediseases, due to their potential of transmission from one person or species to another by a replicating agent (as opposed to a toxin).Transmission of an infectious disease can occur in many different ways. Physical contact, liquids, food, body fluids, contaminated objects, and airborne inhalation can all transmit infecting Agents.Transmissible diseases that occur through contact with an ill person, or objects touched bythem, are especially infective, and are sometimes referred to as contagious diseases.Communicable diseases that require a more specialized route of infection, such as through blood or needle transmission, or sexual transmission, are usually not regarded as contagious.The term infectivity describes the ability of an organism to enter, survive and multiply in the host, while the infectiousness of a disease indicates the comparative ease with which the disease is transmitted. An infection however, is not synonymous with an infectious disease, asan infection may not cause important clinical symptoms.
- What can we infer from the first paragraph in this passage?
- Sickness from a toxin can be easily transmitted from one person to another.
- Sickness from an infectious disease can be easily transmitted from one person to another.
- Few sicknesses are transmitted from one person to another.
- Infectious diseases are easily treated.
B We can infer from this passage that sickness from an infectious disease can be easilytransmitted from one person to another.From the passage, “Infectious pathologies are also called communicable diseases or transmissible diseases, due to their potential of transmission from one person or species toanother by a replicating agent (as opposed to a toxin).”
- What are two other names for infections’ pathologies?
- Communicable diseases or transmissible diseases 1 / 3
- Communicable diseases or terminal diseases
- Transmissible diseases or preventable diseases
- Communicative diseases or unstable diseases
A Two other names for infectious pathologies are communicable diseases and transmissiblediseases.From the passage, “Infectious pathologies are also called communicable diseases or transmissible diseases, due to their potential of transmission from one person or species toanother by a replicating agent (as opposed to a toxin).”
- What does infectivity describe?
- The inability of an organism to multiply in the host
- The inability of an organism to reproduce
- The ability of an organism to enter, survive and multiply in the host
- The ability of an organism to reproduce in the host
C Infectivity describes the ability of an organism to enter, survive and multiply in the host. This is taken directly from the passage, and is a definition type question.Definition type questions can be answered quickly and easily by scanning the passage for theword you are asked to define.“Infectivity” is an unusual word, so it is quick and easy to scan the passage looking for thisword.
- How do we know an infection is not synonymous with an infectious disease?
- Because an infectious disease destroys infections with enough time.
- Because an infection may not cause important clinical symptoms or impair host function.
- We do not. The two are synonymous.
- Because an infection is too fatal to be an infectious disease.
B We know an infection is not synonymous with an infectious disease because an infection maynot cause important clinical symptoms or impair host function.
Questions 5 – 8 refer to the following passage. Passage 2 - Viruses A virus (from the Latin virus meaning toxin or poison) is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of other organisms. Most viruses are too small to be seendirectly with a microscope. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and single-celled organisms. 2 / 3
Unlike prions and viroids, viruses consist of two or three parts: all viruses have genes made from either DNA or RNA, all have a protein coat that protects these genes, and some have an envelope of fat that surrounds them when they are outside a cell. (Viroids do not have a proteincoat and prions contain no RNA or DNA.) Viruses vary from simple to very complex structures. Most viruses are about one hundred times smaller than an average bacterium. The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids— pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria.Viruses spread in many ways; plant viruses are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on sap, such as aphids, while animal viruses can be carried by blood-sucking insects.These disease-bearing organisms are known as vectors. Influenza viruses are spread by coughing and sneezing. HIV is one of several viruses transmitted through sexual contact and byexposure to infected blood. Viruses can infect only a limited range of host cells called the “host range”. This can be broad as when a virus is capable of infecting many species or narrow.2
- What can we infer from the first paragraph in this selection?
- A virus is the same as bacterium
- A person with excellent vision can see a virus with the naked eye
- A virus cannot be seen with the naked eye
- Not all viruses are dangerous
C We can infer from the passage that, a virus is too small to be seen with the naked eye. Clearly,if they are too small to be seen with a microscope, then they are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
- What types of organisms do viruses infect?
- Only plants and humans
- Only animals and humans
- Only disease-prone humans
- All types of organisms
D Viruses infect all types of organisms. This is taken directly from the passage, “Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and single-celled organisms.”
- How many parts do prions and viroids consist of?
- Two
- Three
- Either less than two or more than three
- Less than two
- / 3
C The passage does not say exactly how many parts prions and viroids consist of. It does say, “Unlike prions and viroids, viruses consist of two or three parts ...” so we can infer they consist of either