Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions.
Antibiotics have greatly improved our capacity to treat deadly diseases such as plague, whooping cough (kali khansi), diphtheria (gal ghotu) and leprosy (kusht rog), which used to kill millions all over the globe. Streptokinase produced by the bacterium Streptococcus and modified by genetic engineering is used as a 'clot buster' for removing clots from the blood vessels of patients who have undergone myocardial infarction leading to heart attack. Microbes are diverse-protozoa, bacteria, fungi and microscopic animal and plant viruses, viroids and also prions that are proteinacious infectious agents. The puffed-up appearance of dough is due to the production of CO2 gas. Similarly the dough, which is used for making bread, is fermented using baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Primary sewage treatment basically involve physical removal of particles - large and small - from the sewage through filtration and sedimentation. These are removed in stages; initially, floating debris is removed by sequential filtration. Then the grit (soil and small pebbles) are removed by sedimentation. All solids that settle form the primary sludge, and the supernatant forms the effluent. The effluent from the primary settling tank is taken for secondary treatment. The primary effluent is passed into large aeration tanks, where it is constantly agitated mechanically and air is pumped into it. This allows vigorous growth of useful aerobic microbes into flocs. While growing, these microbes consume the major part of the organic matter in the effluent.
Antibiotics work against?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Bacterial disease
Antibiotics are chemical substances made by some microbes. They kill or slow down the growth of other disease-causing microbes. Penicillin, the first antibiotic, was found when a mould stopped the growth of Staphylococci bacteria.
Option (1) Viral disease — Incorrect. A virus is not a cell. It multiplies only inside the cells of its host, using the host’s own machinery. Antibiotics act on the parts of a bacterial cell, which a virus does not have, so antibiotics do not cure viral diseases such as the common cold.
Option (2) Bacterial disease — Correct. Plague, whooping cough, diphtheria and leprosy, the diseases named in the passage, are all caused by bacteria. Antibiotics have made these once deadly diseases curable.
Option (3) Bacterial and Viral disease — Incorrect. The first half is right, but viral diseases are not treated with antibiotics. A viral infection is not cured by them.
Option (4) Fungal disease — Incorrect. Fungi are eukaryotes, with cells much like our own. Common antibiotics such as penicillin act on bacteria, and fungal infections such as ringworm need antifungal medicines. None of the diseases in the passage is caused by a fungus.
Note: The passage is taken from NCERT. NTA has put lines of the NCERT text together to make it. Most CUET (UG) questions come straight from NCERT, so study the book line by line, including figures and their titles.