Human immunodeficiency virus
HIV, the cause of AIDS. HIV has also previously 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 researcher Robert Gallo at the National Institutes of Health 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.
Read Also:
- Human lymphotropic virus III
Another name for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS.
- Human metapneumovirus
A novel virus that is a ubiquitous and important agent of respiratory disease. The human metapneumovirus (hMPV) was discovered in 2001 in young children in The Netherlands with acute respiratory illnesses ranging from mild upper respiratory infections to severe bronchiolitis and pneumonia. It has since been found to cause severe acute respiratory infections all over […]
- Human papillomavirus
HPV. A family of over 100 viruses including those which cause warts and are transmitted by contact. Some types of human papillomavirus are associated with tumors of the genital tract including, notably, cancer of the cervix. Of the more than 100 types of human papillomaviruses, over 30 types can be passed from one person to […]
- Human papillomavirus
HPV. A family of over 100 viruses including those which cause warts and are transmitted by contact. Some types of human papillomavirus are associated with tumors of the genital tract including, notably, cancer of the cervix. Of the more than 100 types of human papillomaviruses, over 30 types can be passed from one person to […]
- Human parainfluenza virus
One in a group of four RNA viruses that rank second only to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as a common cause of lower respiratory tract disease in young children. Like RSV, human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) can cause repeated infections throughout life. These infections are usually manifested by an upper respiratory tract illness (such as a […]