1. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
AIDS
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

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

3. 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

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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