Human Immunodeficiency Virus ( Hiv )

As a disease, HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a blood-borne virus that is transmitted from person to person via sexual intercourse, mother to child, or intravenous drug paraphernalia. The virus itself causes, usually over a period of time, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. AIDS actually targets the immune system and causes an immunosuppression which makes people who have the virus more susceptible to cancers and infections. This is the most unique feature of the HIV/AIDS virus and is the most deadly since its implications are destructive if not properly treated (Moore 51). The significance of this disease is one that began in the 1980’s and initially was thought to be a virus only found within homosexual communities and was even originally called Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Virus. However, in 1981, it was found that the virus was spreading beyond the gay community when Blacks accounted for 25% of the HIV/AIDs population and a trend began where Blacks continued to contract HIV significantly more than

It is estimated that 34 million people are currently diagnosed with HIV (Bakhshaee, Sarvghad,, Khazaeni, Movahed, & Hoseinpour, 2014, para. 1). HIV consists of two strains, HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is more commonly seen world wide and can progress rapidly (Darby, 2015, 861). The slower progression is the HIV-2, most commonly seen in West Africa and is related to the sooty mangabey monkey (Darby, 2015, 861). HIV is a virus that prevents the body’s normal host response from activating to fight off illnesses that the body could normally fight off if the body was not compromised. Once the body experiences immunosuppression, the likelihood of death due to the disease is at a higher chance. HIV is called a

First: HIV: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a lentivirus. It’s subgroup of retrovirus that causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS. A condition in humans that progressively lead to failure of the immune system. Without proper treatment, an average survival time after infection with The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is estimated to be around 9 to 11 years. We’ve learnt that infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. HIV infects our T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. With infection present, viral killing of infected cells demonstrate low counts of

HIV infects CD4 + T cells. The viral particles of HIV keep their genetic information stored as double-stranded RNA. They use a reverse transcriptase that converts their genome into double-stranded DNA (Edina, Misawa, Kanemura, Koyanagi, 2013). During this process the virus can mutate quickly because many errors occur in the HIV genome. “The DNA is inserted into the host cell genome by integrases which use LTR (long terminal repeat) sequences on the viral genome to integrate with the host DNA” (Ebina, Misawa, Kanemura, Koyanagi, 2013). This results in a provirus that can continuously produce new viruses that infect other immune cells.

HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, was first discovered by CDC in 1981 [3], then described as HTLV-III in 1983 and was later changed into its current name. Ever since its emergence, this virus has caused millions of infections throughout the world, with most of the cases originating in the African region [1]. This retrovirus has made it difficult in the past for scientists to treat it since it changes its RNA once inside the cell to DNA, through the enzyme reverse transcriptase, and keeps changing its genetic information making it difficult to target a specific genome. The main concern of HIV is the development into AIDS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Disorder, which targets the body’s own T-cells through targeting the CD4 and co-receptors leading to various opportunistic infections and, eventually, death.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus responsible for the acquisition of HIV infection which leads to the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV targets cells that are part of the human immune system such as CD4+ T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells which results in the levels of these cells falling dangerously low as they are exterminated via different mechanisms. Such mechanisms typically involve the induction of signaling cascades that result in 'self-killing' protocols being executed by the cell, as well as becoming targets for direct killing of other cytotoxic cells in the immune system. As HIV is a lentivirus it contains two single-stranded, positive sense, RNA molecules each coding nine viral

It is estimated that 34 million people are currently diagnosed worldwide with HIV (Bakhshaee, Sarvghad,, Khazaeni, Movahed, Hoseinpour, 2014, para. 1). HIV consist of two strains of the virus, HIV-1 and HIV-2. The HIV-1 strain is more commonly seen worldwide and can progress rapidly (Darby, 2015, 861). “HIV-1 is transmitted via sexual intercourse, sharing of bodily fluids, and intravenous substance abuse, and during pregnancy and childbirth” (Haveles, 2011, 110). The slower progression of the two strains is the HIV-2 strain, most commonly seen in West Africa and is related to the sooty mangabey monkey (Darby, 2015, 861). HIV is a retrovirus that prevents the normal host response of the immune system from

Many people do not understand what Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is and the difference been HIV and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). As with other sexually transmitted diseases, HIV is often stigmatized due to the method of transmission. HIV is a virus that destroys CD4 T cells, which are immune cells in the body (Forsman & Weiss, 2008). When the immune cells in the body fall to very low levels, this is when HIV progresses into AIDS. Since the immune system is weak a person can die from AIDS because of the inability to fight off infections, such as tuberculosis or pneumonia (Forsman & Weiss, 2008). Approximately 1.7 million people in the United States have been infected with HIV, and more than 600,000 have died (AIDS.gov U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). These numbers are very high, since the epidemic was only identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 1980s (Krause, May, & Butler Jr, 2013). The number of those infected with the disease are not accurate because researchers believe many people infected with HIV have not been diagnosed yet (Shahani, Hartman, Troisi, Kapadia, & Giordano, 2012; Hallmark et al., 2014). Since it’s discovery there have been great improvements in the treatment of HIV and AIDS patients, although there is still no cure. There is an increased need for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease for men and women in the U.S.

HIV has been a pandemic that has affected the world relentlessly for many years in a never-ending circle. HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is the virus that is spread through certain bodily fluids and can lead to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). HIV attacks the immune system by destroying CD4+ T cells, which leaves the person infected with HIV vulnerable to other infections, diseases, and other complications.1 Once this virus is acquired, the human can never fully rid itself of this pathogen. If left untreated, HIV reduces the number of CD4+ cells in the body whom sole duty is to protect the body from infections. 2 Many scientists have postulated on where the virus was first introduced. It has been assumed that the virus was first encountered humans whom were hunting and eating chimpanzees in Central Africa and the virus has spread like wildfire since then. Data over the years have shown that the virus has existed within the United States since at least the mid to late 1970s. 3 No effective cure for HIV currently exist although many vaccine studies are underway around the world, but with the proper treatment and medical care provided by the medical team, HIV can be controlled and have low transmission rates. The medicine we use to treat HIV is referred to as antiretroviral therapy or ART. When a person infected HIV adheres to the medication correctly, it will allow for them to live longer and have healthier lives. 2

HIV infects vital cells in the human immune system such as helper T cells (specifically CD4+ T cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. HIV infection leads to low levels of CD4+ T cells through a number of mechanisms, including apoptosis of uninfected bystander cells, direct viral killing of infected cells, and killing of infected CD4+ T cells by CD8 cytotoxic lymphocytes that recognize infected cells. When CD4+ T cell numbers decline below a critical level, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and the body becomes progressively more susceptible to opportunistic infections.

First of all, we need to define what is “The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)”. HIV is a virus and it is considered a lentivirus (family of Retroviridae). This virus causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV was discovered and considered the agent of the emerging AIDS epidemic by the team of the scientific Luc Montagnier in France in 1983. The virus is spherical, equipped with a jacket and with a capsid protein. Virus’s genome is a single-stranded RNA strand DNA and must be copied temporarily to multiply and integrate into the genome of the cell it infects. Protein antigens of the outer casing are coupled specifically with membrane proteins of the infectable cells, especially CD4 T lymphocytes.

HIV is transmitted sexually, or through blood (blood transfusions and infected needles). HIV is single stranded RNA virus in the Retroviridae family and in a subgroup called lentiviruses, which are considered to be “slow viruses.” The virus attaches to a dendritic cell, which is found in mucous membranes, then is transported to the lymph nodes. Here, other immune cells can become infected. In order for the virus to become a part of human cell’s genes, the RNA needs to convert to DNA by using reverse transcriptase. In order for the virus to replicate, it must attach to the CD4+ receptor and co-receptor that are on the CD4 cell. Once the HIV viral envelope has fused with the CD4 membrane, HIV is able to enter the cell and expel its contents (the two copies of RNA). Now in the cytoplasm, the viral RNA is converted to DNA. The DNA needs to be made more functional, so it is cut into smaller pieces by protease. The new HIV DNA is now able to travel to the nucleus where integrase is used to insert the viral DNA into the host cell’s DNA. If activated, it uses the CD4 cell to make chains of HIV proteins; however, if not activated, the virus can lie dormant for many years. Noninfectious HIV then buds from the CD4 cell and releases protease, which breaks up the noninfectious virus. Infectious HIV is created from combining the broken up proteins, and thousands of HIV particles can be made from one

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been scouring the planet for over three decades. It has a powerful ability to deteriorate a human body in a small length of time. This deadly virus attacks the human body’s immune system and can only survive in the human as its host. The virus is only contracted through body fluid exchange, for example, vaginal fluid, semen, intravenous drug users, and sexual intercourse is the most common way of contracting it.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the agent causing AIDS, is arguably the deadliest infectious disease to affect humans. Not only because of the affects it has on the body by the eventual collapse of the immune system, but because it is a master at evading and escaping the immune responses and antiretroviral drugs by constantly mutating and maintaining genetic variation. Vaccines are designed to recognize specific viral antigens which makes it almost impossible to develop one against HIV. Recent studies have claimed that it is the immune response that puts the selective pressure on the virus to mutate that allows it to escape and persist. Others claim that it is the large turn over rate, rapid mutation rate, or ability to hide latently integrated into the host cell’s DNA. Here I will present specific studies to try to determine what is the dominating factor that allows HIV to escape and persist.

The pandemic known as AIDS was first found in a human blood sample around the year 1959 and was later introduced to the United States in the late 1970s to early 1980s. “From 1979–1981 rare types of pneumonia, cancer, and other illnesses were being reported by doctors in Los Angeles and New York among a number of male patients who had sex with other men (“Where did HIV come from?”).” Due to these occurrences, doctors did their research and were able to trace the cause of this fatal disease called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is a disease that developed from the virus, HIV, which is a virus that attacks the immune system. AIDS can commonly be called the third and final stage of HIV, because the virus has entered its most severe stage in its life span and the cell count of a person’s immune system has dropped below 200. “When the number of your CD4 cells falls below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood (200 cells/mm3), you are considered to have progressed to AIDS. (In someone with a healthy immune system, CD4 counts are between 500 and 1,600 cells/mm3.)(“What Are The Stages of the HIV Infection?”).” The disease has shown to increasingly weaken our immune system by killing off T-cells that act as defenders to prevent illnesses and diseases. Although, AIDS has been reported in many cases all over the world, the actual spreading of AIDS is impossible. People who have AIDS are not infected with the disease directly, instead they are infected with HIV which later