Question

The immune system of a person is suppressed. In the ELISA test, he was found positive to a pathogen.

a. Name the disease the patient is suffering from.

b. What is the causative organism?

c. Which cells of body are affected by the pathogen?

Answer 1

a. ELISA:

Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a reaction based on an antigen-antibody interaction which is used to detect antibodies produced in response to viruses. It is a common diagnostic test for AIDS.

Disease:

The patient, in this case, has weakened immunity and is also positive to a pathogen as detected in ELISA. Hence, he/ she is suffering from Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Final answer: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)

b. Causative organism:

AIDS is caused by the Human immunodeficiency virus. It is a retrovirus with RNA as the genetic material.


Final answer: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

c. Cells affected by the disease:

HIV affects the helper T cells. As the helper T cell count reduces, the patient becomes immunocompromised. This makes him susceptible to various illnesses like diarrhoea, pneumonia, toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis etc. Thus a HIV positive person becomes immunodeficient.

Final answer: Helper T cells