Aids
What is AIDS?
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (slowly-replicating retrovirus) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive (1).
A virus is a piece of genetic material, RNA or DNA, surrounded by a protein coat.
To replicate, a virus must infect a cell and direct its cellular machinery to produce new viruses. A virus cannot reproduce without infecting a cell.
Viruses prey upon all living organisms, turning them into virus Xerox machines.
Unlike a bacterium or a cell of an animal, a virus lacks the ability to replicate on its own. A virus does contain some genetic information critical for making copies of it-self, but it can 't get the job done without the help of a cell 's duplicating equipment, borrowing enzymes and other molecules to concoct more virus. HIV is a RNA virus, which means the virus instructions are stored in strands of RNA – not in strands of DNA.
A RNA virus is a Retrovirus. In order for the virus to take over the cell, it must copy the RNA instructions into DNA instructions (own words out of Microbiology book)
Lentivirus (lente-, Latin for "slow") is a genus of viruses of the Retroviridae family, characterized by a long incubation period. Lentiviruses can deliver a significant amount of viral RNA into the DNA of the host cell and have the unique ability among retroviruses of being able to infect non-dividing cells. (2)
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) refers to any number of severe physical manifestations resulting from HIV infection.
H - Human: because this virus can only infect human beings. I - Immune-deficiency: because the effect of the virus is to create a deficiency, a failure to work properly, within the body 's immune system. V - Virus: because this organism is a virus, which means one of its characteristics is that it is
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (slowly-replicating retrovirus) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive (1).
A virus is a piece of genetic material, RNA or DNA, surrounded by a protein coat.
To replicate, a virus must infect a cell and direct its cellular machinery to produce new viruses. A virus cannot reproduce without infecting a cell.
Viruses prey upon all living organisms, turning them into virus Xerox machines.
Unlike a bacterium or a cell of an animal, a virus lacks the ability to replicate on its own. A virus does contain some genetic information critical for making copies of it-self, but it can 't get the job done without the help of a cell 's duplicating equipment, borrowing enzymes and other molecules to concoct more virus. HIV is a RNA virus, which means the virus instructions are stored in strands of RNA – not in strands of DNA.
A RNA virus is a Retrovirus. In order for the virus to take over the cell, it must copy the RNA instructions into DNA instructions (own words out of Microbiology book)
Lentivirus (lente-, Latin for "slow") is a genus of viruses of the Retroviridae family, characterized by a long incubation period. Lentiviruses can deliver a significant amount of viral RNA into the DNA of the host cell and have the unique ability among retroviruses of being able to infect non-dividing cells. (2)
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) refers to any number of severe physical manifestations resulting from HIV infection.
H - Human: because this virus can only infect human beings. I - Immune-deficiency: because the effect of the virus is to create a deficiency, a failure to work properly, within the body 's immune system. V - Virus: because this organism is a virus, which means one of its characteristics is that it is
References: 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV 2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentivirus 3) www.niaid.nih.gov, www.Aids.gov/Basics, www.emedicinehealth.com 4) , AIDS the Biological Basis put in own words by Jones & Bartlett 5) www.aidsinfonet.org 6) AIDS, the Biological Basis put in own words by Jones & Bartlett 7) www.aids.org/topics/aids-faqs/how-is-hiv-transmitted 8) hivtest.cdc.gov [pic]