Medical Trivia

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

DocEspana

Bullish
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Messages
24,517
Reaction score
45,788
Im so terribly bored right now (I should be studying for my boards...) so I'll invite the osteopathic forum to a bit of a fun game. We're gonna go through some random medical trivia just to see who knows these interesting facts. I'm gonna start of with an easy one (that i still think tons of people will get wrong). Try not to cheat or look it up. I can't stop you, but it's less fun if everyone just googles the right answers for everything.

What is the most deadly pathogen, in terms of lethality upon diagnosis?

The only hints I'm giving you is that this isn't some 'trick question' and that the pathogen is definitely the cause of death (unlike alzheimers where the disease itself is only a true cause of death in a very small number of afflicted patients).

I'd put this in the "general talk" forum but no one ever goes there, its perhaps a bit 'too medical' for that forum, and i like you numbskulls.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Members don't see this ad :)

With about 95% fatality.... ebola is NOT the answer. There is another virus (virus is the hint) that is fatal in 99.99% of cases from the first symptom. There have only been 5 recorded cases of anyone surviving the virus i'm thinking of, and all five were in the last 4 years. (i'll reveal later tonight if no one guesses it).

btw, feel free to pose more questions guys. I have a few other interesting ones in mind for once this one is done.
 
With about 95% fatality.... ebola is NOT the answer. There is another virus (virus is the hint) that is fatal in 99.99% of cases from the first symptom. There have only been 5 recorded cases of anyone surviving the virus i'm thinking of, and all five were in the last 4 years. (i'll reveal later tonight if no one guesses it).

btw, feel free to pose more questions guys. I have a few other interesting ones in mind for once this one is done.

Hmm ... that 'first symptom' comment makes me think Rabies??
 

Hmm ... that 'first symptom' comment makes me think Rabies??

ding ding ding. The first symptom of rabies is a headache 2-14 days after the bite that causes the disease. From that headache on the disease is untreatable and ultimately fatal if it had not already been treated. 5 people have ever survived it and all 5 had to be put into a medically induced coma to do so. The survival rate for this "coma induced treatment" is raised from 0% to 8% but this treatment was developed in late 2008.

New question: without looking it up, what is the biggest protein in the body?
 
ding ding ding. The first symptom of rabies is a headache 2-14 days after the bite that causes the disease. From that headache on the disease is untreatable and ultimately fatal if it had not already been treated. 5 people have ever survived it and all 5 had to be put into a medically induced coma to do so. The survival rate for this "coma induced treatment" is raised from 0% to 8% but this treatment was developed in late 2008.

New question: without looking it up, what is the biggest protein in the body?

it has such a give-away name, c'mon! Titin! hahaha
 
My question

Fifth Disease (Erythema Infectiosum) appears as a fine lacy rash on the skin and a slapped cheek appearance. At the turn of the 20th century, doctors listed common childhood rashes by a specific list (and hence why Erythema Infectiosum is known as Fifth Disease)

Can you name what First Disease is? What about Second, Third, Forth, and Sixth Disease?
 
And for those interested in history


Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine began in 1966 with classes held at Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital. The next year, the school bought a building a block away on Camp Bowie Boulevard and renovated it for use. What was that building used for PRIOR to being purchased, renovated and converted into a medical school?


*oddly enough, I know this random fact even though I never went to TCOM or visted TCOM.
 
Why do I and my two sons immediately start sneezing when we go outside on a sunny day? Now that's trivial trivia. Bonus points for entertaining acronyms.

The origin of the name of Warfarin is a perennial favorite as well.
 
My question

Fifth Disease (Erythema Infectiosum) appears as a fine lacy rash on the skin and a slapped cheek appearance. At the turn of the 20th century, doctors listed common childhood rashes by a specific list (and hence why Erythema Infectiosum is known as Fifth Disease)

Can you name what First Disease is? What about Second, Third, Forth, and Sixth Disease?

I only know this cause we had an entire exanthems lecture in our peds section. 1st is measles, 2nd is scarlet fever, 3rd is rubella, 4th is staph aureus skin infection, 5th is erethyma infectiosum and 6th is roseola.

IDK the answers to the other questions, but ill throw one more out there.

what medical school was the first american medical school to have a female dean of the college.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Why do I and my two sons immediately start sneezing when we go outside on a sunny day? Now that's trivial trivia. Bonus points for entertaining acronyms.

The origin of the name of Warfarin is a perennial favorite as well.

Maybe you have actinic prurigo, or cutaneous porphyrias, or plain old allergic rhinitis. Never liked the term PMLE (polymorphic light eruption)


Warfarin, eh?

WARF.png


Untitled-2copy.jpg
 
And for those interested in history


Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine began in 1966 with classes held at Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital. The next year, the school bought a building a block away on Camp Bowie Boulevard and renovated it for use. What was that building used for PRIOR to being purchased, renovated and converted into a medical school?


*oddly enough, I know this random fact even though I never went to TCOM or visted TCOM.

it was a bowling alley
 
Maybe you have actinic prurigo, or cutaneous porphyrias, or plain old allergic rhinitis. Never liked the term PMLE (polymorphic light eruption)

Upwards of 35% of the general population has this as well. Does 35% of the population even have allergic rhinitis? And it really does have a cutesy acronym.

Warfarin, eh?

WARF.png


Untitled-2copy.jpg


That's cute. See if anyone else gets it (for some reason it's been a favorite irrelevant pimp in my residency and in fellowship).

@DocEspana: NYCOM.
 
Why do I and my two sons immediately start sneezing when we go outside on a sunny day? Now that's trivial trivia. Bonus points for entertaining acronyms.

Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio Ophthalmic Outburst Syndrome

Should I go for the bonus point? Eh, too easy (hint: ignore Dominant)
 
My guess @ female dean question: either KCUMB or CCOM (answers reflect current school names).
 
My guess @ female dean question: either KCUMB or CCOM (answers reflect current school names).

nope not them either.

extra hint that probably wont help at all. She was, obviously, the first black female dean as well. (idk if she's the first black dean of a medical school)

p.s. I'm not counting Ann Preston who was named Dean of the Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1907 or so, since that was a sub-branch of the men's college and not a true college of medicine of its own. Hint: it took about 90 years for another woman to be dean. And (as of 2007) there had been only 6 female deans ever. So. Yea.
 
Last edited:
nope not them either.

extra hint that probably wont help at all. She was, obviously, the first black female dean as well. (idk if she's the first black dean of a medical school)

p.s. I'm not counting Ann Preston who was named Dean of the Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1907 or so, since that was a sub-branch of the men's college and not a true college of medicine of its own. Hint: it took about 90 years for another woman to be dean. And (as of 2007) there had been only 6 female deans ever. So. Yea.

Wow, first female dean and black (female) dean of a medical school; the school has not yet been mentioned, and it was an osteopathic college?

Follow up question ... is the COM still in existence (in some form)?
 
nope not them either.

extra hint that probably wont help at all. She was, obviously, the first black female dean as well. (idk if she's the first black dean of a medical school)

p.s. I'm not counting Ann Preston who was named Dean of the Womens Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1907 or so, since that was a sub-branch of the men's college and not a true college of medicine of its own. Hint: it took about 90 years for another woman to be dean. And (as of 2007) there had been only 6 female deans ever. So. Yea.

Barbara Ross-Lee was the first black female to be named dean of an American medical school, but for Ohio U. She came to NYCOM later, in 2001 - which is why someone above answered NYCOM. They were half right - had the correct woman at least!

I went to a lunchtime talk she gave just this past Thursday after classes (I was there for the free pizza, I won't lie.)
 
Barbara Ross-Lee was the first black female to be named dean of an American medical school, but for Ohio State. She came to NYCOM later, in 2001.

but in 1993 she was the dean of OU-COM. This is the correct answer.

I only know this because she talked at my school on tuesday. hahaha. The things you learn.
 
Barbara Ross-Lee was the first black female to be named dean of an American medical school, but for Ohio U. She came to NYCOM later, in 2001 - which is why someone above answered NYCOM. They were half right - had the correct woman at least!

I went to a lunchtime talk she gave just this past Thursday after classes (I was there for the free pizza, I won't lie.)

Which famous relative is she related to?
 
OU-COM ... I was way off. I want more ... this is the most interesting thing I've done in a while. The DO trivia questions are particularly fun (but hopefully aren't a part of the COMLEX studying you're doing Espana).
 
Who was the first African American to serve as president of the AOA? He's also well-known for his role in the civil rights movement and his close friendship with the late Martin Luther King Jr. (No Googling!! I have his autobiography, I know at least one of you must have it, too!)
 
Who was the first African American to serve as president of the AOA? He's also well-known for his role in the civil rights movement and his close friendship with the late Martin Luther King Jr. (No Googling!! I have his autobiography, I know at least one of you must have it, too!)

Is it William G. Anderson???

No googling ... I swear - I saw some speech he gave on youtube one time, and I still don't know if that's right.
 
Is it William G. Anderson???

No googling ... I swear - I saw some speech he gave on youtube one time, and I still don't know if that's right.

It is! He spoke to us during our orientation back in August and gave us all signed copies of his book, haha.

Pretty sure he was also the first black surgical resident in the state of Michigan or something along those lines, too.

He's basically awesome.
 
What is the single most common reason for admission to a hospital? As a hint, I'm counting each surgery as its own "admission reason" so its not 'surgery' in general. Nor is it necessary a surgery at all, just trying to save you from making that too-broad of a guess. It's a specific admission reason.
 
Yes, I was thinking of Dr. Ross Lee. When I had first read about her, she was at NYCOM, thus, I think, my confusion.
Here's a bio: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_279.html

And GT gets the trivial trivia award, for the ACHOO reflex. I love that bit of useless brain space. And it is funny as the three of us will sneeze at about the same time. I have some potent genes, though. All three of us had 1-4 febrile seizures as well.
 
What is the single most common reason for admission to a hospital? As a hint, I'm counting each surgery as its own "admission reason" so its not 'surgery' in general. Nor is it necessary a surgery at all, just trying to save you from making that too-broad of a guess. It's a specific admission reason.

I was going to pose a new question, but no one took up this one yet. Come on. No takers?
 
What is the single most common reason for admission to a hospital? As a hint, I'm counting each surgery as its own "admission reason" so its not 'surgery' in general. Nor is it necessary a surgery at all, just trying to save you from making that too-broad of a guess. It's a specific admission reason.

Childbirth?
 
nope. but that is the most common surgery which is another fun fact.

Curious what your source is, because everything I'm finding has childbirth well ahead of #2, which appears to be pneumonia.
 
Curious what your source is, because everything I'm finding has childbirth well ahead of #2, which appears to be pneumonia.

Congestive Heart failure, both chronic treatment and acute attacks. I've heard this from probably about 6 different docs and they all say that childbirth is a well quoted incorrect one. Its only the most common surgery and is behind CHF. Never heard anyone (except you on here) actually say childbirth before, but obviously i've heard to expect that one.

Contested or not, we need a new question. Someone want to serve one up? I had one earlier today but am blanking right now.
 
How do you definatively diagnose Creutzfeld-Jacob's disease
 
Congestive Heart failure, both chronic treatment and acute attacks. I've heard this from probably about 6 different docs and they all say that childbirth is a well quoted incorrect one. Its only the most common surgery and is behind CHF. Never heard anyone (except you on here) actually say childbirth before, but obviously i've heard to expect that one.

Contested or not, we need a new question. Someone want to serve one up? I had one earlier today but am blanking right now.

I will have to disagree with you here.

Number one cause of admission to hospitals, excluding pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn, is pneumonia.

Most frequent specific conditions admitted to the hospital through the emergency department, 2003

1. Pneumonia - 935,000 (5.7%)
2. Congestive Heart Failure - 807,000 (5.0%)
3. Chest Pain - 702,400 (4.3%)
4. Hardening of the arteries (coronary atherosclerosis) - 521,000 (3.2%)
5. acute myocardial infarction - 485,900 (3.0%)
6 Chronic obstructive lung disease - 445,200 (2.7%)
7 Stroke (acute cerebrovascular disease) - 436,100 (2.7%)
8 Irregular heartbeat (cardiac dysrhythmias) - 425,800 (2.6%)
9 Complications of procedures, devices, implants and grafts - 412,700 (2.5%)
10 Mood disorders (depression and bipolar disorder) - 387,500 (2.4%)

Source: AHRQ, Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 2003.
 
I will have to disagree with you here.

Number one cause of admission to hospitals, excluding pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn, is pneumonia.

Most frequent specific conditions admitted to the hospital through the emergency department, 2003

1. Pneumonia - 935,000 (5.7%)
2. Congestive Heart Failure - 807,000 (5.0%)
3. Chest Pain - 702,400 (4.3%)
4. Hardening of the arteries (coronary atherosclerosis) - 521,000 (3.2%)
5. acute myocardial infarction - 485,900 (3.0%)
6 Chronic obstructive lung disease - 445,200 (2.7%)
7 Stroke (acute cerebrovascular disease) - 436,100 (2.7%)
8 Irregular heartbeat (cardiac dysrhythmias) - 425,800 (2.6%)
9 Complications of procedures, devices, implants and grafts - 412,700 (2.5%)
10 Mood disorders (depression and bipolar disorder) - 387,500 (2.4%)

Source: AHRQ, Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 2003.

Yup, that's what I found too, with childbirth-related admissions making up 10-12%, then the rest of this list. While I'm sure some numbers have changed since 2003, I can't imagine that CHF could have exploded that much to surpass the several million hospital births that occur per year.
 
I don't know how my docs overlooked childbirth. Maybe I need to question their methods. But using the exact same document: Source: AHRQ, Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, Healthcare Cost and Utilization project, Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 2003

you'll see that the total admissions *not just from the ER* has CHF listed as #1 (it doesn't list childbirth at all though) at 6.3% of admissions to pneumonia's 5.8%. Gotta just dig deeper than a google search on the topic. Your school librarians would be sad you didn't use PubMed hahahaha.

Though I should be giving 100% credit to whoever said childbirth cause, well, apparently thats a much bigger amount of admissions.

New Question (this one is rather easy): for years everyone was told that beta-blockers would kill someone with CHF (dont ask why I'm on a CHF kick). Everything about beta-blockers initially seemed like it would increase mortality sharply. Yet, it turns out they are, in fact, one of the best decreasers of mortality in CHF. Why is this? (there are a few 'partially' correct answers, but one 'fully' correct. Just like step 1)
 
Increase in SpO2 due to renin suppression. Less obvious, the beta-blockers act on the sympathetic nervous system and will therefore lower the risk of an already fragile heart (in CHF) from becoming exacerbated with exertion or excitement.

Yes?
 
Increase in SpO2 due to renin suppression. Less obvious, the beta-blockers act on the sympathetic nervous system and will therefore lower the risk of an already fragile heart (in CHF) from becoming exacerbated with exertion or excitement.

Yes?

I think, technically, I need to give it to you as 'beta 1 antagonism' is the right answer. all the drugs that reduce mortality in CHF do so by lowering angiotensin. It can be assumed that any drug that cannot lower angiotensin may lower symptomology but will not lower mortality, as less angiotensin seems to be the only factor directly responsible in CHF mortality. Less renin due to B-1 antagonism leads to lower mortality. The rest is all fluff. I was expecting more people to play into the fluff and say that a less active heart and lower BP would somehow decrease mortality in CHF. Which is wrong, as (in theory) these two things actually increase mortality, but the decrease in angiotensin via renin inhibition is such a strong 'positive effect' it overrides these factors.
 
Your all wrong the answer is:
Kebert Xela
 
Top