Re: What does H.I.V stand for?

Hi Desiree - H.I.V. stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV is the cause of AIDS, or Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The virus is retrovirus, meaning it infects cells as single-stranded RNA, or ribonucleic acid. You may have learned in biology that "DNA" or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the "blueprint of life." DNA contains all of our genes. Cells copy, or transcribe, DNA into RNA which is then translated into proteins. In the case of HIV, the RNA comes along with a protein that reverse-transcribes, or copies, the RNA back into DNA which is then copied to make more RNAs for creating viral particles.

The virus specifically infects certain populations of T cells in the body. T cells are an important part of our immune system. They play a critical role in helping your body fight off disease-causing organisms. By destroying these T cells, an person infected with HIV eventually loses much of their immune function, and so becomes immunodeficient, and susceptible to many kinds of infections that would not normally affect a healthy person.

For more information about HIV, try some of the virology links in the Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Virology. The Body website. Hope this helps..

-L. Bry, MadSci Admin