Living Well With HIV

An estimated.two-thirds of the 36.7 million people infected with.the Human immunodeficiency.virus (HIV), resideon the African.continent 1. Once infection.has occurred, HIV destroys.the hosts CD4+ immune.cells, leading toacquired.immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) 2. .HIV/AIDS is wide.spread throughout.Sub-Saharan Africa andexacerbates various.socioeconomic issues 3. South Africa has.some of the highest prevalence.of HIV/AIDS.in theworld, with an.estimated 7 million people.living with HIV 4. .An estimated 115 000.HIV-related deaths occurred inSouth Africa in 2018, .emphasizing the.need for HIV research.in Sub-Saharan.countries 4.The HIV-1 virus.consists of two copies.of non-covalently.linked, positive.sense, single-stranded.RNA molecules 5.This is enclosed.by a p24 viral.protein.conical capsid, situated.within a.viral envelope. .The viral envelope isderived from the.host cell membrane and.contains viral.glycoproteins; such.as gp120.and gp41, which.areimbedded.in the viral.envelope 2,6,7. .Once HIV-1 exposure.occurs, .the virus migrates.to CD4+ immune.cells. Thisoccurs.due to the.affinity of the HIV-1 viral.envelope.gp120/gp41 complex.for CD4 antigen.receptors on thesurface of host.CD4+ immune cells 2,6. Once.the gp120 subunit.of the viral envelope.interacts with a CD.antigenreceptor, co-receptor binding.takes place 2,7. The co-receptor.binding results in conformation.changes in the HIV-1 envelope, .leading to the exposure.of the gp41 hydrophobic.domain, allowing.fusion of the.envelope with.thecellular.membrane and the.subsequent delivery.of the viral core.into the cytoplasm 2. The.uncoating of the.viralcore exposes.Reverse transcriptase, a HIV.enzyme, to deoxynucleotide.triphosphates (dNTP's), resulting inreverse transcription.and proviral DNA synthesis 2. After reverse.transcription is completed, .the formation.of acomplex, consisting of.viral and cellular components is.formed, known as the viral pre-integration.complex. This istransported to the.cell's nucleus where