HIV
Acronym for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the cause of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). HIV has also been called the human lymphotropic virus type III, the lymphadenopathy-associated virus and the lymphadenopathy virus. No matter what name is applied, it is a retrovirus. (A retrovirus has an RNA genome and a reverse transcriptase enzyme. Using the reverse transcriptase, the virus uses its RNA as a template for making complementary DNA which can integrate into the DNA of the host organism).
Although the American research Robert Gallo at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) believed he was the first to find HIV, it is now generally accepted that the French physician Luc Montagnier (1932-) and his team at the Pasteur Institute discovered HIV in 1983-84.
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The body’s initial reaction to infection by the HIV virus. Acute HIV infection is a flu-like syndrome that occurs immediately after a person contracts HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus 1, the agent that causes AIDS). The syndrome is characterized by fever, sore throat, headache, skin rash and swollen glands (lymphadenopathy). This syndrome precedes seroconversion — […]
- HIV infection, primary
The first few months after infection with HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus). During primary HIV infection, seroconversion occurs — the appearance of detectable antibodies to HIV in the blood. It normally takes several weeks to several months for antibodies to the virus to develop after HIV transmission. When antibodies to HIV appear in the blood, […]
- HIV test
a test used like the less expensive Western blot to confirm the results of an ELISA. The premiere test that can identifies the genetic material, the RNA, of the HIV virus is called PCR (the polymerase chain reaction). PCR can detect an early HIV infection before antibodies are evident and determine whether a baby born […]
- Hives
A raised, itchy area of skin that may be a sign of an allergic reaction. It can be rounded or flat-topped but is always elevated above the surrounding skin. It reflects circumscribed dermal edema (local swelling of the skin). The hives are usually well circumscribed but may be coalescent and will blanch with pressure. A […]
- Heredity
The genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to child.