HIV

S P Y R O S F I L I P PA S B4
BIOLOGY TERM PROJECT
WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF THE
IMMUNE SYSTEM?

• Blood System • The blood system produces the body’s immune cells (leukocytes) and
transports them to sites of infection.

• Lymphatic System • Comprised of lymph that is responsible for filtering blood and tissue fluid.
WHAT DISEASE YOU CHOSE TO RESEARCH
ABOUT?
The disease I chose about is HIV. I choose HIV since it’s a really interesting one and I am
impresses by how powerful this disease is.
 WHEN WAS THIS DISEASE DISCOVERED, AND IS THERE
ANY HISTORICAL INFORMATION ABOUT IT?
• In 1983, Luc Montagnier’s team at the Pasteur Institute in Paris discovered HIV ‑1. Using the established
techniques, they cultured T cells from a lymph node biopsy from a 33-year-old homosexual French
patient with symptoms that can precede AIDS (subsequently called pre-AIDS), such as
lymphadenopathy. Reverse transcriptase activity in the supernatant of this culture and the morphology of
virions showed that they had isolated a retrovirus. They were able to infect T cells from a healthy donor,
but attempts to infect other cell types, including B cells and fibroblasts, failed. The group concluded that
this patient at risk for AIDS was infected with a T cell–tropic retrovirus, but an association with AIDS
remained tentative at this point. In 2008, Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi from his team
were awarded the Nobel Prize for the isolation and characterization of HIV-1.

• It was probably passed to humans when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat and
came in contact with their infected blood. Over decades, HIV slowly spread across Africa and
later into other parts of the world. The virus has existed in the United States since at least
the mid to late 1970s.
 WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF HIV?
• HIV is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. The virus attacks the helper T-cells of
your immune system, leaving it weakened.

• AIDS is caused by having too few immune cells to fight off other illnesses.
 WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF HIV?
• You can have HIV without having any symptoms. Sometimes you’ll have flu-like symptoms when you first get infected
with HIV. These can include:
• Fever.
• Chills.
• Fatigue.
• Sore throat.
• Muscle aches.
• Night sweats.
• Rash.
• Swollen lymph nodes.
• Mouth sores.
HOW CAN THIS DISEASE BE TREATED?
WHAT THERAPIES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED?
• HIV treatment (antiretroviral therapy or ART) involves taking medicine as prescribed by a health care
provider. HIV treatment reduces the amount of HIV in your body and helps you stay healthy.
• There is no cure for HIV, but you can control it with HIV treatment.
• Most people can get the virus under control within six months.
• HIV treatment does not prevent transmission of other sexually transmitted diseases.

• No therapies have been discovered but there are medicines that decrease the material load inside your body.
 HAS ANY VACCINE BEEN DEVELOPED
TO PREVENT THE DISEASE?
• No. There is currently no vaccine available that will prevent HIV infection or treat those who
have it.

• However, scientists are working to develop one. NIH is investing in multiple approaches to
prevent HIV, including a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine. These research efforts
include a multinational vaccine clinical trial called Mosaico.
SOURCES

• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hiv-aids/symptoms-causes/syc-20373524
• https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4251-hiv-aids
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3405824/
• https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/hiv-prevention/potential-future-options/hiv-vaccines