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Nature 434, 1080-1081 (28 April 2005) | doi:10.1038/4341080a; Published online 27 April 2005

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HIV:  Viral blitzkrieg

R. Paul Johnson1,2 & Amitinder Kaur1

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It takes years for AIDS to develop from the damage inflicted on the immune system by HIV or its simian counterpart. Surprisingly, as many as half of the body's memory T cells may die at a very early stage of infection.

HIV and the related simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) cause AIDS by infecting the master regulatory cells of the immune system — T helper cells, better known as CD4+ T cells. It is generally years before enough damage is done to this cellular army for full-blown AIDS to develop.

  1. R. Paul Johnson and Amitinder Kaur are in the Division of Immunology, New England Primate Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Southborough, Massachusetts 01772, USA.
  2. R. Paul Johnson is also at the Partners AIDS Research Center and Infectious Disease Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
    Email: paul_johnson@hms.harvard.edu

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