Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
HIV is commonly transmitted via unprotected sexual activity, blood transfusions, hypodermic needles, and from mother to child.Upon acquisition of the virus, the virus replicates inside and kills T helper cells, which are required for almost all adaptive immune responses.
Two types of HIV have been characterized: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is the virus that was initially discovered and termed both lymphadenopathy associated virus (LAV) and human T-lymphotropic virus 3 (HTLV-III). HIV-1 is more virulent and more infective than HIV-2, [20] and is the cause of the majority of HIV infections globally. The lower ...
A course of antiretrovirals administered within 48 to 72 hours after exposure to HIV-positive blood or genital secretions is referred to as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). [144] The use of the single agent zidovudine reduces the risk of an HIV infection five-fold following a needle-stick injury. [144]
AIDS, in particular, has a long asymptomatic period—during which time HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS) can replicate and the disease can be transmitted to others—followed by a symptomatic period, which leads rapidly to death unless treated. HIV/AIDS entered the United States from Haiti in about 1969. [123]
The genome and proteins of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) have been the subject of extensive research since the discovery of the virus in 1983. [1] [2] "In the search for the causative agent, it was initially believed that the virus was a form of the Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV), which was known at the time to affect the human immune system and cause certain leukemias.
HIV tropism of a patient's virus is measured by the Trofile assay. HIV can infect a variety of cells such as CD4+ helper T-cells and macrophages that express the CD4 molecule on their surface. HIV-1 entry to macrophages and T helper cells is mediated not only through interaction of the virion envelope glycoproteins with the CD4 molecule on the ...
After exposure to the hepatitis B virus (HBV), appropriate and timely prophylaxis can prevent infection and subsequent development of chronic infection or liver disease. The mainstay of PEP is the hepatitis B vaccine ; in certain circumstances, hepatitis B immunoglobulin is recommended for added protection.
The pathophysiology of HIV/AIDS involves, upon acquisition of the virus, that the virus replicates inside and kills T helper cells, which are required for almost all adaptive immune responses. There is an initial period of influenza-like illness, and then a latent, asymptomatic phase.