We were wrong about HIV

It turns out that scientists have long deduced the way HIV attacks the immune system.

Scientists have long believed that HIV virus weakens healthy white blood cells by forcing cells to "give birth " to them (ie cloning parts of the HIV virus itself), until when dead. The white blood cells that HIV attacks are T cells, often playing a role in identifying " strangers ", so that the body will destroy them. This " infection - replication virus - reinfection and exhaustion " hypothesis is called the " cascade " hypothesis.

HIV Virus.(Photo: channelnewsasia.com)

But if that's the case, then T cells will have to die much faster, British and American researchers said. A simple problem has shown that the cascade model forces T cells to die in just a few months, not a few years as they really are.

This result demonstrates "the virus has attacked in a slow process ". Identifying this process will "bring an important key to the nature of HIV disease and can help find new treatments," the authors write.

The team thinks the slowdown may be due to the virus adapting slowly to the body.

"The virus mutates constantly, and may have natural selection here, according to Darwinism, over time they retain 'better' mutations for human infection," said the team leader. Dr. Andrew Yates from Emory University in Atlanta, USA, said.

T. An