UKMLA PLAB AMC USMLE Prometric MCQ

Question Number 1159

Question:
A 65 year old female develops a painful, itching, burning pain on the left side of her upper back. She feels mildly tired an has a slight fever. A few days letter she develops a rash with vesicles on a small portion of her back. She goes to her doctor, accompanied by her husband. The doctor takes one look at the distribution of the rash on her back, and tells her that she has shingles. Her husband, after having seen the excruciating pain that she has been in, says that he hopes he never gets shingles. His wife immediately interrupts the doctor and tells him that he won't since he never had chickenpox and that shingles only occurs in people who have previously had chickenpox.
Why is this?

a) immunoglobulins directed againsts viral antigens trigger an autoimmune disease
b) reactivation of the variola virus after being dormant in the dorsal root ganglia
c) hyperactivity of the immune system triggers reactivation of the virus
d) reactivation of the virus after being latent in the ventral root ganglia
e) the varicella virus is reactivated after being latent in the dorsal root ganglia