Atp-the correct answer is a. the disease is chlamydial cervicitis. this venereally transmitted infection is usually
suspected after treatment for gonorrhea fails to relieve symptoms. however, a few cases are picked up when
cytoplasmic inclusions composed of aggregates of chlamydia are identified on pap smears. confirmation can
be made with fluorescent antibodies that pick up both the aggregates and individual bacteria known as
elementary bodies. the organisms are obligate intracellular parasites because they have lost the ability to
synthesize atp. although some authors consider them to be bacteria, others do not, since this is such a
fundamental difference between the chlamydia and free living bacteria.
failure to synthesize cholesterol (choice b) is not usually cited as a problem specific to any type of organism,
although viruses are not able to do so without using host machinery.
some viruses cannot synthesize dna (choice c), but the disease in question is not caused by a virus.
protein synthesis (choice d) by viruses requires host ribosomes.
some viruses cannot synthesize rna (choice e), but the disease in question is not caused by a virus.
