HIV Flashcards
(25 cards)
When/where was HIV/AIDS discovered?
Chimpanzees in Cameroon, 2006
What kind of virus is HIV
Reterovirus (attacks T cells)
How is genetic information is stored (HIV)
Stored as RNA and then DNA is created through host cell machinery
What does HIV look like
Spherical - external: lipid bilayer, internal: protein core and the core contains: RNA, reverse transcriptase, integrase and protease
Has the death rate increased or decreased
Decreased
T or F: the incidence of HIV has slowed
True
Greatest burden
Young men, black, gay, latino, bisexual, those in southern US
Are there more or less people living with the disease?
More
Signs and symptoms
Fever like
Clinical stage
Stage where virus is present but there are no symptoms
Infection stage
Flu like symptoms present
Vaccines dont work because…
HIV rapidly mutates and is highly variable
Testing - Elisa
Testing for antibodies in the blood, but can have false results
Testing - western blots
Look for specific proteins
Viral load testing
Looks for viral load of HIV
Transmission
100% preventable with proper precautions - spreads through bodily fluids (sex, blood, mother 2 child)
Prevention
Abstaining from sexual intercourse, PreP
Treatment -ART
Reverse transcriptase inhibitors, so they block the RNA from becoming DNA (ex: AZT)
Treatment - protease inhibitors
Interfere with the viral assembly process so the virus load is reduced, thus cannot attack other cells
PreP
Taken before intercourse for those at risk
Life cycle step one
HIV attached to the host CD4 cell
Life cycle step two
DNA is made from HIV’s RNA via reverse transcriptase
Life cycle step three
HIV DNA goes to the nucleus of the cell attacked and integrates with human DNA (now all HIV and cell proteins and DNA will be copied together)
Life cycle step four
Using protease, viral proteins form new particles, leave the cell and then infect others
