Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), What is

HIV: Introduction and epidemiology
History
In 1981 an epidemic of a previously unknown acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was described in the USA. A lentivirus (subfamily of retroviruses) was subsequently identified. Lentus (in Latin = slow) denotes the long latent phase between infection and the development of symptoms. Retroviruses use the enzyme reverse transcriptase (RT) to generate proviral DNA from RNA (reverse of the usual direction of genetic transcription). The term human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was accepted in 1986. In the same year a related virus (HIV-2), endemic in W. Africa, and sharing common features including the induction of immune deficiency, was identified.

The Origin of HIV
There are structural and

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