Human Immunodeficiency Virus

'Gap' for HIV vaccine efforts after latest setback

The hunt for an HIV vaccine has gobbled up $8 billion in the past decade, and the failure of the most recent efficacy trial has delivered yet another setback to 26 years of efforts.

HIV & AIDS created May 19, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

AIDS science at 30: 'Cure' now part of lexicon

Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS on Tuesday, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease.

HIV & AIDS created May 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

How serotonin receptors can shape drug effects, from LSD to migraine medication

New findings by researchers carrying out experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science's Advanced Photon Source (APS) help explain why some drugs that interact with two kinds of human serotonin ...

Medical research created May 17, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Antiretroviral regimen associated with less virological failure among HIV-infected children

Elizabeth D. Lowenthal, M.D., M.S.C.E., of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether there was a difference in ...

HIV & AIDS created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Highly active antiretroviral therapies may be cardioprotective in HIV-infected children, teens

Long-term use of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) does not appear to be associated with impaired heart function in children and adolescents in a study that sought to determine the cardiac effects of prolonged ...

Pediatrics created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Women with HIV shown to have elevated resting energy expenditure

Studies have shown that about 10 percent of men infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have an elevated resting energy expenditure (REE). Their bodies use more kilocalories for basic functions including circulation, ...

HIV & AIDS created Apr 16, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researcher study the dangerous effects of cocaine on HIV patients

Cocaine, already a damaging drug for those with healthy immune systems, can be lethal for those living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Mudit Tyagi, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington ...

HIV & AIDS created Mar 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

French patients keep HIV at bay despite stopping drugs (Update)

A small French study of 14 HIV patients who have remained healthy for years after stopping drug treatment offers fresh evidence that early medical intervention may lead to a "functional cure" for AIDS, researchers said Thursday.

HIV & AIDS created Mar 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV

(Medical Xpress)—Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed, researchers at Washington University School of ...

HIV & AIDS created Mar 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (29) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

HIV infection appears associated with increased heart attack risk

A study that analyzed data from more than 82,000 veterans suggests that infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was associated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack) beyond ...

HIV & AIDS created Mar 04, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mechanisms regulating inflammation associated with type 2 diabetes, cancer identified

A study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has identified epigenetic mechanisms that connect a variety of diseases associated with inflammation. Utilizing molecular analyses of gene expression ...

Immunology created Mar 01, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Reprogrammed immune cells might give doctors an edge in rallying the body's defenses against tumor growth

Genetic abnormalities accrued by tumor cells lead to inappropriate production of proteins at the wrong time or place, or even the synthesis of unusual hybrid proteins not found in normal cells. Such abnormalities ...

Cancer created Mar 01, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Study: Antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 in first four months is crucial

Patients who are started on antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 infection within four months of estimated infection date—and who have higher counts of CD4+ T-cells at the initiation of therapy—demonstrate a stronger recovery ...

HIV & AIDS created Jan 16, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Australian study turns HIV against itself (Update)

An Australian scientist said Wednesday he had discovered a way to turn the HIV virus against itself in human cells in the laboratory, in an important advance in the quest for an AIDS cure.

HIV & AIDS created Jan 16, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 22

Tracking the origins of HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may have affected humans for much longer than is currently believed. Alfred Roca, an assistant professor in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University ...

HIV & AIDS created Dec 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unsafe sex, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth (perinatal transmission). Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in the developed world.

HIV infection in humans is considered pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Nevertheless, complacency about HIV may play a key role in HIV risk. From its discovery in 1981 to 2006, AIDS killed more than 25 million people. HIV infects about 0.6% of the world's population. In 2009, AIDS claimed an estimated 1.8 million lives, down from a global peak of 2.1 million in 2004. Approximately 260,000 children died of AIDS in 2009. A disproportionate number of AIDS deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and exacerbating the burden of poverty. An estimated 22.5 million people (68% of the global total) live with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, which is also home to 90% of the world's 16.6 million children orphaned by HIV. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection. Although antiretroviral medication is still not universally available, expansion of antiretroviral therapy programs since 2004 has helped to turn the tide of AIDS deaths and new infections in many parts of the world. Intensified awareness and preventive measures, as well as the natural course of the epidemic, have also played a role. Nevertheless, an estimated 2.6 million people were newly infected in 2009.

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 three main mechanisms: First, direct viral killing of infected cells; second, increased rates of apoptosis in infected cells; and third, 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.

Most untreated people infected with HIV-1 eventually develop AIDS. These individuals mostly die from opportunistic infections or malignancies associated with the progressive failure of the immune system. HIV progresses to AIDS at a variable rate affected by viral, host, and environmental factors; most will progress to AIDS within 10 years of HIV infection: some will have progressed much sooner, and some will take much longer. Treatment with anti-retrovirals increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Even after HIV has progressed to diagnosable AIDS, the average survival time with antiretroviral therapy was estimated to be more than 5 years as of 2005[update]. Without antiretroviral therapy, someone who has AIDS typically dies within a year.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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