Hiv controls its activity independent of host cells

A major hurdle to curing people of HIV infection is the way the virus hides in a reservoir composed primarily of dormant immune cells. It is generally believed that HIV does not replicate in these cells because the virus depends on active cellular machinery to do so. Now, two new papers propose that the virus itself -- not cells -- controls whether HIV is replicating, and that periods of latency paradoxically give the virus a survival advantage. ...read more