Final answer:
AIDS patients become susceptible to candidal esophagitis when their CD4 T-cell count falls below 200 cells/μl, leading to severe adaptive immune function impairment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are susceptible to developing candidal esophagitis when their CD4 T-cell count drops below 200 cells/μl. At this stage, AIDS patients have severely compromised immune systems and are at high risk for opportunistic infections such as esophagitis. This is because a decline in CD4 helper T cells leads to significant impairment in the body's adaptive immune functions, rendering patients vulnerable to infections that commonly affect the esophagus in immunocompromised individuals.