Be Prepared for COVID Questions

The USMLE exam is obviously challenging but you have to be mindful of important emphasis on recent advances and trending topics. Microbiology & Infectious Diseases is a very big topic for the USMLE in 2020/2021.

Do you know how the concept of the novel coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) will be tested on the USMLE? Are you familiar with the chemical and physiologic properties of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the etiologic agent of COVID-19), the pathophysiology of the disease, the complications, and mechanisms of death from the disease? Are you conversant with all the latest principles in virology, immunology, molecular biology, pharmacology, and public health?

If you need help navigating your way through these critically essential and challenging principles on the USMLE, join the USMLE Insider online course. Our experts got all the concepts and the keys to mastering them. In April 2020 (i.e., at the peak of the pandemic), we had our panel scrutinize the medical journals in a quest to create a great set of questions on this emerging disease for the benefit of our students. Six USMLE questions were created for our students then, which has now increased to 20 on this novel disease.

Check out one of our USMLE questions on COVID-19. This is one of the 20 questions on coronavirus our students receive following our Microbiology lectures. Test yourself with this and let us see how you do. We will discuss the answer and offer explanations later.

1. A 54-year-old male experiences anorexia, fatigue, muscle soreness, nasal congestion and runny nose for 1 week, as well as sore and itching throat for 3 days. The next day, he complains of dyspnea, and is rushed to the emergency room, where at presentation, tachypnea, cyanosis, and hypoxemia is evident. The patient's PaO2/FiO2 ratio is 100 mm Hg with positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) of 5 cmH2O. He is transferred to the intensive care unit, where he is given mechancal ventilation. High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) shows multiple patchy and light consolidation in both lungs and grid-like thickness of interlobular septa consistent with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) performed on respiratory samples obtained by a nasopharyngeal swab shows that he is infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Which of the following serum laboratory test findings is most likely to be present?

A. Antinuclear antibody titer of 1:2000
B. C-ANCA titer of 1:250
C. C-reaction protein of 170.91 mg/L
D. Ferritin of 86 ng/dl
E. Homocysteine of 4 µmol/l
F. LDH of 50 U/L
G. Osmolality of 280 mOsm/kg