Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

AIDS Attacks the immune system so that certain cells do not work properly Therefore…the immune system is compromised

Caused by the HIV virus Stands for Human Immunodificiency-Virus A person can be infected with virus…but not have AIDS (yet) A person with HIV can transmit it to other people

HIV Classification It’s a retrovirus (very complex replication cycle) Contains RNA Contains the enzyme Reverse Transcriptase (makes DNA from an RNA sequence)

Means of transmitting HIV Sexual contact (intercourse) Through blood You CANNOT get HIV by Kissing/saliva Shaking hands/physical contact Drinking after someone with HIV

Why don’t we have a vaccine for AIDS? The outer knobs are PROTEINS, which are antigens The key to producing a vaccine against HIV is to trigger the body to produce antibodies specific to the antigens on the HIV knobs

How does the virus infect our cells? The virus protein knobs attach to a receptor in the plasma membrane of a helper T cell The virus penetrates the cell This allows the virus cell the fuse with the T cell membrane The virus uses the cell’s RNA to synthesize viral DNA within the host cell REFER TO YOUR DIAGRAM, STEPS 2-4