Biology · General Awareness

Viral Diseases and Immunity

807 Questions

Viral diseases and immunity cover the structure, transmission, and diagnosis of viruses like HIV. Questions focus on disease pathways, immune responses, and prevention. Strong knowledge here provides an edge in biology scoring.

HIV and AIDS structureVirus transmission methodsImmune system deficiencyPathogen risk groupsMedical diagnosis methods

Viral Diseases and Immunity Questions

Multiple choice

During the initial infection of HIV, a person experiences a brief period of

  1. diarrhoea

  2. influenza-like illness

  3. muscle tremors

  4. anemia

  5. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Many individuals develop an influenza-like illness 2–4 weeks post exposure. Symptoms occur in 40–90% of cases and most commonly include fever, large tender lymph nodes, throat inflammation, a rash, headache, and/or sores of the mouth and genitals.

Multiple choice

A patient is said to have HIV superinfection when ___________.

  1. infected by most virulent strain of HIV

  2. infected with bacteria and HIV

  3. co-infected by more than one strain of HIV

  4. infected with bacteria, fungus and HIV

  5. infected with parasites and HIV
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

A patient is said to have HIV superinfection when co-infected by more than one strain of HIV.

Multiple choice

The double stranded DNA virus is

  1. Avulavirus

  2. Morbillivirus

  3. Bacteriophage Mu

  4. Henipaviruses
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Bacteriophage Mu or phage Mu is a temperate bacteriophage, a type of virus that infects bacteria. It has an icosahedral head, a contractile tail and 6 tail fibres. It uses DNA-based transposition to integrate its genome into the genome of the host cell that it is infecting. It contains double-stranded DNA.

Multiple choice

HIV mainly attacks

  1. B-cells

  2. cytotoxic T-cells

  3. stem cells

  4. helper T-cells
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

HIV enters helper T-cells and replicates inside to produce more virus.

Multiple choice

The AIDS virus does not spread through

  1. infected mother to baby during pregnancy

  2. breast feeding from an infected female

  3. blood to blood contact with infected person

  4. handshake
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

 The AIDS virus does not spread through handshake. 

Multiple choice

According to WHO reports, the number of HIV+ people in the world, which has already been approaching 70 million, will attain 120 million by 2030.

  1. According to WHO reports, the number of HIV+ people in the world, which has already been approaching 70 million, will attain 120 million by 2030.

  2. Already approaching 70 million in the world, WHO reports predict that the number of HIV+ people in the world will reach 120 million by 2030.

  3. WHO reports predict by 2030 that the number of HIV+ people in the world, which is already approaching 70 million, will reach 120 million.

  4. By 2030, WHO reports predict that the number of HIV+ people in the world, having already reached 70 million, will reach 120 million.

  5. According to WHO reports, the number of HIV+ people in the world is already approaching 70 million and will reach 120 million by 2030.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

Correct. The sentence uses simple present and simple future tense. The option correctly uses 'reach' instead of 'attain'.

Multiple choice

Which among the following is a coreceptor of HIV?

  1. RANTES

  2. CD8

  3. CD54

  4. CR5

  5. CXCR4
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor which HIV utilizes as a coreceptor for entry into naive CD4+ T-cells and mature dendritic cells. Another chemokine receptor, CCR5, is used particularly for entry of HIV into immature dendritic cells, macrophages and activated effector or memory CD4+ T-cells.

Multiple choice

Which of the following HIV antigens provides a potential target for neutralising antibodies produced in the host?

  1. U3

  2. gp120

  3. Reverse transcriptase

  4. Protease

  5. Tat
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

gp120 is an envelope protein which binds to CD4 on the T-cell. Antibodies to the V3 loop of gp120 arise during the disease and are particularly effective as neutralising agents in vitro, although less so in vivo. Generally, neutralising antibodies are more effective against HIV-2 than against HIV-1.

Multiple choice

Both DNA and RNA viruses have been shown to be capable of causing cancer in humans and thus, are known as oncogenic viruses. Which among the following is an oncovirus?

  1. Herpes zoster

  2. HIV-2

  3. Epstein-Barr virus

  4. Vesicular stomatitis virus

  5. Proteus mirabilis
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Epstein-Barr virus, human papilloma virus, hepatitis B virus, and human herpes virus-8 are the four DNA viruses that are capable of causing the development of human cancers. Epstein-Barr virus is associated with Burkitt's lymphoma and with naso-pharyngeal carcinoma.