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Line 1: − HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and is a chronic disease that gradually weakens the immune system by disabling and killing "T-helper cells", which normally signal other constituents of the immune system to perform their respective roles. When HIV reduces the number of T-helper cells below a certain threshold, an infected person is vunerable to opportunistic infections and cancers that typify Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. [http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/howhiv.htm] It is transmitted primarily through sexual contact with an infected person, sharing of needles or syringes, and, less frequently, through transfusion of infected blood or blood clotting factors.[http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/transmission.htm]. + − − HIV is a retrovirus, and integrates its genetic information into the host cell's genome. − − − ==References== − <references/>
Redirecting to Human Immunodeficiency Virus
#REDIRECT [[Human Immunodeficiency Virus]]