SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 18 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which is a serious contagious bacterial infection that usually affects the mucous membranes of the nose and throat?

(a)Diphtheria
(b)Meningococcal
(c)Shigellosis
(d)Chlamydia

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Diphtheria is the bacterial infection that settles on the mucous membranes of the nose and throat. The organism is Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

Its signature is a thick grey pseudomembrane over the tonsils and throat, which can narrow the airway. The bacterium also releases a toxin that can damage the heart and the nerves.

It passes by respiratory droplets and close contact, which is the contagious part of the stem — option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Meningococcal — Meningococcal disease is bacterial, but it presents as meningitis or bloodstream infection. The nose and throat are where the organism is carried, not where the disease shows.
(c)
Shigellosis — Shigellosis is a bacterial infection of the intestine, spread through contaminated food and water, and it produces dysentery rather than a throat membrane.
(d)
Chlamydia — Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection of the genital tract, and the same organism causes the eye disease trachoma. Neither site is the throat.

Concept

The stem sets three filters and each narrows the field: bacterial, contagious, and sited on the mucous membranes of the nose and throat.

The third filter does the work here. Every option offered is bacterial, so the deciding question is where the organism causes disease — throat, meninges, gut or genital tract.

Diphtheria is also vaccine-preventable. The D in the DPT vaccine given in childhood immunisation stands for diphtheria.

SSC frames disease items either by the organ affected or by the causative agent. Read the stem for the body part before you read the options.

Key facts

Diphtheria is caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae.
It forms a grey pseudomembrane in the throat that can obstruct breathing.
The D in the DPT vaccine stands for diphtheria.
Shigellosis is a bacterial infection of the intestine causing dysentery.

Study next

Bacterial versus viral diseases and the causative organism of eachVaccine-preventable diseases in India's childhood immunisation scheduleDiseases grouped by mode of transmission such as droplet, waterborne and vector-borne

Common traps

Choosing meningococcal because the bacterium is carried in the nose. Carriage is not the disease described.
Reading 'contagious' as a hint that the agent is viral. Diphtheria is bacterial and contagious at once.

One organism or one vaccine, asked by plain recall. The polio vaccine comes up the same way at 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.24, where the keyed answer is the Salk vaccine of 1952.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.