How Does Hiv Target Cells Of The Immune System For Destruction

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How HIV Damages the Immune System

Introduction The basic structure of HIV is similar to that of other viruses (Figure 1 ). HIV has a core of genetic material surrounded by a protective sheath, called a capsid . The genetic material in the core is RNA (ribonucleic acid), which contains the information that the virus needs in order to replicate (make more copies of itself) and perform other functions. You can think of RNA as the set of rules the virus follows in order to...

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How HIV "burn out" the immune system

I recently read an article about Bruce Walker and his team at Massachussetts General Hospital in Boston. His team has found "the source" of what actually burns out the immune system over time. They attribute the immune system "burn...

Response from Mark Holodniy, M.D., F.A.C.P., C.I.C.

Stanford University, School of Medicine

All of what you say is plausible, but requires more study.... Read more »

Injected helper t cells to rebuild immune system?

Sir Bobby,Real quick. What about injected helper t cells in combination with hiv medicines to prevent aids from happening? Or what about inject helper t cells as a shot during treatment iterruptions? What do you stay?Please stay well till your...

Response from Robert J. Frascino, M.D.

The Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation

Hey Ben,Immune-based therapies have been strong areas of research for quite some time. I did experiments like the ones you proposed in the early nineties. I stimulated T-cells with Interleukin-2 (a T-cell growth factor), grew and expanded T-cell... Read more »

HIV life cycle, and how HIV affects the immune system

Hi Rick, When Hiv attaches itself to a lymphocyte, is the lymphocyte actually a gland as in the neck or armpit, and does this then become a reproduction factory for HIV with an abundance of T-cells coming from the gland? Thank you for your...

Response from Rick Sowadsky, M.P.H.

Nevada State Health Division AIDS Program

Thank you for your question. HIV infects cells of the immune system called CD4 cells. There are many CD4 cells inside the lymph nodes. These cells can also be found all throughout the body.When HIV enters a CD4 cell, the cell itself becomes a... Read more »

Confued about HIV+ and HIV- immune systems

Hi,My understanding is that there is a typically a 50-75 CD4 count decline per year in a HIV+ positive person's immune system and a 3% (?) fall. I also understand that the CD4/CD8 ratio will invest. My questions are what is a typical immune...

Response from Keith Henry, M.D.

University of Minnesota, School of Medicine

This particular forum is exclusively for the discussion of the side effects of HIV therapy for use by patients and their health care providers.... Read more »

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Immune system & HIV detection

Posted by andypb, 1 Reply

What is compromised/ supressed immune system.

Does compromised/ weak immune system take more time to produce antibody to HIV infection.

Would a Person having as low Cd 4 counts 350 is considered to have compromised immune system.

Do such person with... Read more »

immune system

Posted by Anonymous, 1 Reply

What are antigens? Are antibodies the same thing as the CD4 type of t-cells? What are CD8 t-cells? What is a macrpophage? Is a retrovirus the same thing as a lentivirus? What is DNA? Who is OJ? Am I asking too many questions? Is is ok to laugh when... Read more »

The immune system

Posted by Anonymous, 1 Reply

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The immune system may be able to come back more powerfully than anyone thought after a break in treatment with AIDS drugs, researchers said Wednesday.

They said in patients who had decided to interrupt their complex HIV drug... Read more »

Self Destructing Fast

Posted by Anonymous, 7 Replies

I have been HIV positive for 7 years. I was in a relationship with a man who turned out to be negative at the time I found out. This was in 2000. This man is very emotionally and physically abusive. I have tried many times to leave but have never... Read more »

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