Exam 22: Serological and Molecular Diagnosis of Parasitic and Fungal Infections

A 27-year-old female patient who is pregnant is undergoing serological testing as a precaution because of a recent food poisoning episode in which she ate undercooked pork at a picnic.The laboratory tests revealed positive IgG antibodies and negative IgM antibodies to toxoplasmosis.What do these test results indicate?

A patient is diagnosed with coccidioidomycosis.This infection can be classified as:

A parasite accesses a target cell in a host,thus hiding its antigens from the host's immune system.This survival strategy is known as:

A patient who has recently traveled to Africa presents to the physician with a possible parasitic infection.The physician orders serological testing.Which of the following conditions is best detected via serological testing?

Eosinophilia and an increase in which immunoglobulin play a role in the defense against parasites?

A patient presents with a fungal infection.Which components of the immune system are activated early in the course of the patient's infection?

Serology assays are useful in the diagnosis of Aspergillus infections from bronchial lavage samples in immunocompromised patients.

Suppose a parasite invades a patient and causes disease.The patient develops an immune response and has some resistance to the parasite but is not cured.This outcome is considered what type of host-parasite interaction?

Which statement best describes antigenic variation of a parasite?

An example of a fungal organism that commonly causes systemic infections is:

Suppose a parasite invades a patient and causes disease.The patient develops immunity and is ultimately cured.This outcome is considered what type of host-parasite interaction?

A complement fixation test for Histoplasma antibodies shows a 1:32 titer.This means the patient is negative for Histoplasma infection.

A parasite that causes the immune system to increase protein production to distract the immune system is using which survival strategy?

To correctly determine an infection with toxoplasmosis within the last 12 months,both IgG and IgM should be negative.

A patient with candidiasis is considered to have which type of mycotic infection?

What approach can be used to decrease the chance of a false-positive result when performing latex agglutination to identify Cryptococcus infections?

A patient has been diagnosed with tapeworm.Identify the type of parasitic organism involved.