What Is Hiv?

What’s HIV?

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It weakens a person’s immune system by destroying cells that fight disease and infection.

Is a retrovirus that uses an error-prone reverse transcriptase to make a DNA copy of its RNA genome.

The virus uses this to make mutation or varitions of the protein in its surface so that the antibodies can no longer recognize HIV. So, Unlike some other viruses, the human body cannot get rid of HIV because simply it can’t keep up with the virus. No effective cure exists for HIV. But with proper medical care, HIV can be controlled. That means that once you have HIV, you have it for life.

Two types of virus can cause AIDS, HIV-1 HIV-2. HIV1 cases can mostly be found in the United States, Canada, and Europe. HIV-2 is most common to be found in West Africa, and its less virulent.

Background

Both HIVs are the result of multiple cross-species transmissions of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) naturally infecting African primates. Most of these transfers resulted in virus that spread in humans to only a limited extent. However, one transmission event, gave rise to HIV-1 the principal cause of the AIDS pandemic.

The hunter theory

Studies based on DNA sequencing shows that HIV-2 is closely related to simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) found in African Sooty Mangabey Monkeys

Scientists identified a type of chimpanzee in Central Africa as the source of HIV infection in humans. They believe that the chimpanzee version of the immunodeficiency virus (called simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV) most likely was transmitted to humans, mutated and evolved into HIV-1 and 2 as a result of chimpanzees and African Sooty Mangabey monkeys being killed and eaten, or their blood getting into cuts or wounds on the human hunter. Studies show that HIV may have jumped from apes to humans as far back as the late 1800s. Over decades, the virus slowly spread across Africa and later into other parts of the world. We...