~~1. The following scenario will provide information that you will need in order to use the scientific method to determine how you would be able to identify an organism.

The scenario is:A patient is admitted to the hospital with the following symptoms: sudden high fever, stiff neck, severe headache, nausea, altered mental status, sensitivity to light.

These symptoms correspond to bacterial meningitis. In order to choose a correct course of treatment, it must be determined whether the patient has an infection withNeisseria meningitidisorHaemophilus influenzae.

Using the scientific method, address the following:

1. What is the background observation? What is the scientific question that comes from that observation? [Describe the problem/scenario and list the scientific question it leads you to ask.] (2 points)
2. Which organism do you propose caused the problem? What is your hypothesis? (1 point)
3. Describe the predicted cultural and biochemical results that correspond to the hypothesized organism as compared to the alternative possible causative organism. (8 points)
4. Which experiments are required to test your hypothesis? Describe how you would conduct a well-designed scientific experiment using the necessary stains and biochemical test(s). Recall that good experiments include the use of control and experimental groups, random sampling, appropriate sample size, and a reproducible methodology. (10 points)
5. What specific actual results should you see if your hypothesized organism is truly the causative organism? (8 points)
6. Given the above results, what would your conclusion be? (1 point)