1. How does HIV, which at first glance does not appear to be a highly formidable
ID: 151940 • Letter: 1
Question
1. How does HIV, which at first glance does not appear to be a highly formidable foe, persist in the body for such long periods of time and continue multiplying and progressively causing more and more damage until a fatal outcome is reached?
2. Why does the immensely powerful immune system of the body, an organ system that has evolved over millennia of challenges from a wide variety of infectious and noninfectious invaders to become an exceedingly effective defender of the body against agents far more virulent than HIV, now appear to be powerless against it?
Explanation / Answer
1) Human immunodeficiency virus attacks the host immune system resulting in the failure of the immune system. HIV by infecting the immune system make the host vulnerable to other infection which are mild like common cold to the most dangerous viral infection in long run causing the AIDS(Acquired immune deficiency syndrome). HIV infects the cells with CD4 domain which include dendritic cells, macrophages, and T helper cells all these cells are helpful in the maintain the defense system of body and when these cell are infected the hosts body is exposed to other viruses to which is immune system unable to defense.
2) As HIV attacks the immune system cells which include CD4 cells, dendritic cells, macrophages and T helper cells it weakens the host immune system. Against the HIV infection the hosts immune system also tries to eliminate the infection form body in the long run the CD4 cells become exhausted and becomes ineffective to control the infection.HIV genome has RNA strand which integrates into the T cell and with use of viral enzymes reverse transcriptase enzymes it changes host DNA into viral RNA and make the viral proteins for virus as host immune system recognizes the T cells as self cell it doesn’t kill and virus propagates and integrates the viral genome in all human immune cells thus how the HIV cells evade the immune system for longer time.
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