Question 19N.2.HL.TZ0.1g
| Date | November 2019 | Marks available | [Maximum mark: 2] | Reference code | 19N.2.HL.TZ0.1g |
| Level | HL | Paper | 2 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Analyse | Question number | g | Adapted from | N/A |
The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is an arthropod which sucks blood from humans and other mammals. It is encountered mainly in wooded and semi-wooded areas. Some ticks can be infected by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. When a tick bites a human, the bacterium is often introduced, causing Lyme disease. Lyme disease is a public health problem in North America and, if left untreated, can cause important neurological impairment. The diagram represents the two-year life cycle of a tick.
[Source: Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies / Leslie Tumblety]
Scientists fear that global warming will change the distribution range of ticks.
The graphs show the developmental stages of ticks throughout seasons in a densely human-populated area of south-eastern Canada, surrounded by woods (circled on the map). Values are already established for 2000 and are predicted for 2080.
[Source: reprinted from International Journal for Parasitology, 36(1), N.H. Ogden, A. Maarouf, I.K. Barker, M. Bigras-Poulin,
L.R. Lindsay, M.G. Morshed, C.J. O’Callaghan, F. Ramay, D. Waltner-Toews, D.F. Charron, Climate change
and the potential for range expansion of the Lyme disease vector Ixodes scapularis in Canada,
63–70, Copyright (2006), with permission from Elsevier]
White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) in eastern North America’s wooded areas often host B. burgdorferi bacteria. To determine whether bacterial transmission from mice to tick nymphs could be prevented, mice were vaccinated with antigens from Lyme disease-causing B. burgdorferi. Scientists captured wild mice at two different sites in the woods once a month, over 4 months. Each time, they measured the levels of antibodies to B. burgdorferi present in the captured and re-captured mice, inoculated all of them, and released them into the woods. The control group was not vaccinated with B. burgdorferi antigen.
[Source: Copyright (2004) National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. An ecological approach to preventing human infection:
Vaccinating wild mouse reservoirs intervenes in the Lyme disease cycle, Jean I. Tsao, J. Timothy Wootton, Jonas Bunikis,
Maria Gabriela Luna, Durland Fish, Alan G. Barbour, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Dec 2004, 101 (52) 18159–18164; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0405763102]
The summer after vaccination, the prevalence of B. burgdorferi infection in tick nymphs collected on mice from the two sites was measured.
[Source: Copyright (2004) National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. An ecological approach to preventing human infection:
Vaccinating wild mouse reservoirs intervenes in the Lyme disease cycle, Jean I. Tsao, J. Timothy Wootton, Jonas Bunikis,
Maria Gabriela Luna, Durland Fish, Alan G. Barbour, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Dec 2004, 101 (52) 18159–18164; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0405763102]
Analyse the data on the state of infection of tick nymphs with B. burgdorferi in control and vaccinated mice.
[2]
a. at Site 1 there is little/no significant difference in the proportion of infected nymphs/numbers of infected and uninfected nymphs collected from both control and vaccinated mice ✔
b. at Site 2 the proportion of infected nymphs is lower in those collected from vaccinated than control mice
OR
at Site 2 «significantly» more nymphs are not infected from vaccinated than control mice ✔ For mpb and mpd, accept converse answers that give the proportions/percentages of uninfected nymphs rather than infected.
c. at both sites there are fewer infected than uninfected nymphs in those collected from both vaccinated and control mice ✔
d. proportion of infected nymphs is lower at Site 1 than Site 2 in nymphs collected from both control and vaccinated mice
OR
22 % of control mice and 23 % of vaccinated mice with infected nymphs at Site 1 AND 39 % of control mice and 29 % of vaccinated mice with infected nymphs at Site 2 ✔ Percentages are required for the second alternative of mpd.
Accept “ticks” instead of “tick nymphs” or “nymphs”
Do not accept quoting of untransformed numerical data.
