A woman is being treated for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She has an increased risk of opportunistic infections. Based on what you know about SLE and the treatment for it, propose why she has an increased risk of opportunistic infections
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: SLE is a systemic autoimmune disease that involves circulating antigen-antibody complexes in the blood. The self-antigens are nucleoproteins and DNA in the blood. The immune system mistakenly produces antibodies against these self-antigens. The only way to treat SLE is to suppress the immune system to decrease the production of the self-reacting antibodies and reduce inflammation. Because the treatment suppresses the immune system, people with SLE are at greater risk of infection.
You might also like to view...
Which of the following is an amphibian?
A. coelacanth B. turtle C. octopus D. toad E. lizard
A second level consumer is indicated by
a. A. b. B. c. C. d. D. e. E.
You sample a population of butterflies and find that 42% are heterozygous at a particular locus (location of gene). What should be the frequency of the recessive allele in this population?
a. 0.09 b. 0.30 c. 0.49 d. 0.70 e. allele frequency cannot be determined from this information
Sickle-cell anemia is caused by a
A) recessive sex-linked gene. B) simple dominant gene. C) combined interaction of several genes. D) recessive autosomal gene. E) dominant autosomal gene.