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Playbook

Microbiology and Disease

21 q · 0% HARD across 10 years. Pathogens and Diseases (13 q · disease↔pathogen pairs — the marquee Biology recall lever, elephantiasis-Wuchereria / sleeping sickness-Trypanosoma / smallpox-virus / TB-Mycobacterium / cholera-bacterium), Antibiotics — Discovery (7 · Fleming-Penicillin, viruses immune to antibiotics), Disease Vectors (1). Zero HARD makes this a guaranteed marks chapter — drill /reference-tables → 'Diseases' cluster.

questions in the bank
21
tagged HARD
0%
subtopic(s)
3
worked examples
2

When you’ll see it

A disease↔pathogen pair (elephantiasis-Wuchereria, smallpox-virus, cholera-Vibrio, TB-Mycobacterium, malaria-Plasmodium), a vector identification (mosquito for malaria), an antibiotic-discovery question (Fleming-Penicillin), or a virus-vs-bacteria distinction.

How this chapter is tested

21 q in 10 years, ZERO HARD. The most under-invested chapter in NDA Biology — every question is named-fact recall, and every paper has 2–3 of them. Pathogens and Diseases (13 q) is the marquee subtopic. The disease↔pathogen table is the single highest-leverage memorisation in NDA Biology — drill /reference-tables → 'Diseases and Pathogens' cluster cold.

Bacterial diseases: TB (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), cholera (Vibrio cholerae), typhoid (Salmonella typhi), tetanus (Clostridium tetani), syphilis (Treponema). Viral: smallpox (Variola — eradicated 1980), AIDS (HIV — retrovirus, RNA genetic material), polio (Poliovirus), dengue (DENV — affects platelets), measles, chickenpox. Parasitic: malaria (Plasmodium, vector = female Anopheles mosquito), sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma, vector = tsetse fly), elephantiasis (Wuchereria bancrofti, filarial worm), kala-azar (Leishmania, vector = sandfly). Waterborne diseases: cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, dysentery.

Antibiotics — Discovery (7 q) is the second-biggest subtopic. Penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming (1928). Antibiotics work against BACTERIA, NOT against viruses (viruses don't have the structures antibiotics target — no cell wall, no bacterial-style ribosomes). This is repeat-tested: 'antibiotics treat viral infections' is always wrong. Bacterial cell wall = peptidoglycan (the penicillin target). Disease Vectors — Malaria (1 q) keeps recurring as 'vector of malaria parasites is female Anopheles mosquito'.

The sub-skills

The rules and habits that decide whether you get a question right.

  • Disease–pathogen pair recall

    TB = Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Cholera = Vibrio cholerae. Typhoid = Salmonella. Tetanus = Clostridium tetani. Malaria = Plasmodium. Sleeping sickness = Trypanosoma. Elephantiasis = Wuchereria bancrofti. AIDS = HIV (retrovirus). Smallpox = Variola virus. Dengue = DENV (reduces platelets).

  • Pathogen-type classification

    Bacterial (cured by antibiotics): TB, cholera, typhoid, tetanus, leprosy, syphilis. Viral (NOT cured by antibiotics): AIDS, polio, smallpox, measles, hepatitis, dengue, COVID. Parasitic (cured by antiparasitics): malaria, kala-azar, sleeping sickness, elephantiasis. Fungal: ringworm, athlete's foot, candidiasis.

  • Disease vector match

    Malaria → female Anopheles mosquito. Dengue + chikungunya + Zika → Aedes aegypti. Sleeping sickness → tsetse fly. Kala-azar → sandfly. Plague → rat flea (Xenopsylla). Filariasis → Culex mosquito. Match the vector species cold.

  • Antibiotic-discovery + mechanism

    Penicillin → Alexander Fleming (1928) → first antibiotic, from Penicillium mould. Mechanism: blocks bacterial cell-wall synthesis. Antibiotics work ONLY against bacteria (cell wall + 70S ribosomes are targets). Viruses lack both → antibiotics useless against viral infections. Streptomycin → first effective TB drug (Waksman, 1943).

2 worked examples from the bank

Real past-year questions illustrating the playbook. Click to reveal options + solution.

Example 1Microbiology and DiseaseEASY
Which of the following pairs is/are correctly matched? 1. Malaria : Mycobacterium 2. TB : Plasmodium Select the answer using the code given below:

[Q114 · Apr · 2025]

Example 2Microbiology and DiseaseEASY
The vector of malaria parasites is

[Q113 · Apr · 2025]

Traps to expect

Distractor shapes specific to this chapter. The page-wide Traps section covers the bank-level patterns.

  • Malaria : Mycobacterium swap

    Recurring NDA match-pair trap. Malaria is caused by PLASMODIUM (parasite), NOT Mycobacterium (that's TB). TB is caused by MYCOBACTERIUM tuberculosis, NOT Plasmodium. Distractor pairs them backwards — the 2025 PYQ tests exactly this swap.

  • Antibiotics treat viral infections

    Wrong. Antibiotics target bacterial cell walls (peptidoglycan) and bacterial 70S ribosomes. Viruses have NEITHER — they have no cell wall and hijack host ribosomes. So antibiotics are useless against viral infections (COVID, flu, AIDS). Antiviral drugs (acyclovir, oseltamivir) are different. Distractor says 'antibiotics cure viral infections' — always false.

  • Smallpox bacterium

    Smallpox is caused by Variola VIRUS (eradicated globally in 1980 via WHO vaccination). Distractor labels it bacterial. Eradicated diseases worth knowing: smallpox (1980, global), polio (regionally — India 2014), guinea worm (near elimination).

Drill every microbiology and disease question

21 questions from the bank, scoped to 3 bundled subtopics.

Drill the 21 questions

Related playbooks

Often paired with this one — drill these next if you found the worked examples above tractable.