Question

1. A very ill 48 year old man comes to the Emergency Room and is diagnosed with pneumonia and thrush. Suspicious, the attending physician orders an HIV antibody test which comes back positive within a few hours. Why does a patient with acquired immunodeficiency have antibodies to HIV?

2.Compare and contrast endotoxins and exotoxins. Why are exotoxins more potent than endotoxins?

Answer 1

1. In this case, HIV test comes positive which means your body makes very specific antibodies to fight the infection.

the HIV antibodies are different from antibodies for the flu or any other infections. patient have antibodies to HIV indicates that he is infected with HIV.

2.

endotoxins	exotoxins
1. bacterial toxins consisting of lipids that are located with in a cell.	toxic substances secreted by bacteria and released outside the cell.
2. lysed gram negative bacteria	living gram positive and gram negative bacteria.
3.lipopolysaccharide chemical	protein
4. non specific	specific to particular bacterial strain
5.examples- E.coli, salmonella typhi etc.	vibrio cholera, bacillus cereus

exotoxins are more potent than endotoxins because an exotoxin can cause damage to the host by destroying cells and also can cause major damage to the host while endotoxins are les specific on their substrate.