Question

Pneumocystis is an organism normally found in

the human lungs that can cause pneumonia. It
seldom causes problems in individuals with
healthy immune systems. However, people with
AIDS sometimes become seriously ill with
pneumonia. This is most likely due to the fact
that individuals with AIDS have
(1) inherited a tendency to contract pneumonia
(2) difficulty fighting off infections
(3) an allergy to this organism
(4) hormones that strengthen the infection

Answer 1

Because Aids is a syndrome of the immune system, the second answer would be correct. Diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and having thrush problems are all called opportunistic diseases and are associated with compromised immune systems and are therefore all associated with Aids victims because HIV compromises the immune system which causes aids, which is the point of almost no return.

Answer 2

The correct answer is (2).

HIV that causes AIDS infects the cells of the immune system and in particular the T-helper lymphocytes, or CD4 T-cells, which are crucial to the immune system and immune response . The virus kills these cells until their number goes down gradually. It may take a few years before the decline gets to a level that the immune system is too weak to fight off infections.

The lower the count of CD4 cells becomes, the more susceptible a person becomes to viruses and infections that an otherwise healthy body would fight.