4. Costanza was picking grapes in her father’s arbor when she felt a short prickling pain in her finger. She ran crying to her father, who removed an insect stinger and calmed her with a glass of lemonade. Twenty minutes later Costanza’s finger was red, swollen, and throbbing where she had been stung. What type of immune response was she exhibiting? What treatment would relieve her discomfort? (4 points). Answer:
Costanza was exhibiting the typical signs of anaphylactic shock, an immediate hypersensitivity response. This typical inflammatory response (redness, edema, etc.) at the site of exposure to the allergen (in this case, the sting) is triggered any time the body tissues are injured. She would benefit from a topical cream containing an antihistamine drug.
5. Caroline, a pregnant 29 year old woman who is HIV positive and has no signs of AIDS. Which of Caroline’s cells are infected by the virus and why can this be devastating to the immune system? (2 points). Answer:
The HIV virus is transferred from the mother to the baby through the placenta. Caroline’s helper T cells are infected. This is so devastating to the immune response because of the role of the helper T cells in activating both the humoral immune response of the B cells and the activation of the cytotoxic T cells. Caroline is taking medications to control the infection and slow the progression of the disease to full-blown AIDS. She is taking a combination of drugs from three categories of action: reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, and fusion inhibitors.
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