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workers, so called sex workers, violence, exploitation, Rainbow Nari O
Shishu Kallyan Foundation, Mohammad Khairul Alam
Mohammad Khairul
Alam
Executive Director
Rainbow Nari O
Shishu Kallyan Foundation
24/3 M.C. Roy Lane
Dhaka-122
Bangladesh
rainbowngo@gmail.com
www.newsletter.com.bd
Tell: 880-2-8628908
Mobile: 01711344997
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The human immunodeficiency virus, commonly called
HIV, is a retrovirus that primarily infects vital components of the
human immune system such as CD4+ T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells.
It also directly and indirectly destroys CD4+ T cells. As CD4+ T cells are
required for the proper functioning of the immune system, when enough CD4+
cells have been destroyed by HIV, the immune system barely works, leading to
AIDS. HIV also directly attacks certain human organs, such as the kidneys,
the heart and the brain leading to acute renal failure, cardiomyopathy,
dementia and encephalopathy. Many of the problems faced by people infected
with HIV results from the failure of the immune system to protect them from
certain opportunistic infections and cancers.
HIV is transmitted through penetrative (anal or vaginal)
and oral sex; blood transfusion; the sharing of contaminated needles in
health care settings and through drug injection; and, between mother and
infant, during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.
AIDS is thought to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa
during the twentieth century and it is now a global epidemic. At the end of
2004, UNAIDS estimated that nearly 40 million people were currently living
with HIV (UNAIDS, 2004). The World Health Organization estimated that the
AIDS epidemic had claimed more than 3 million people and that 5 million
people had acquired HIV in the same year
Introduction
In 1983, scientists in France led by Luc Montagnier,
first discovered the virus that causes AIDS (Barré-Sinoussi et al., 1983).
They called it lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). A year later, Robert
Gallo of the United States, confirmed the discovery of the virus, and they
named it human T lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) (Popovic et al.,
1984). In 1986, both names were dropped in favour of the term human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (Coffin, 1986).
HIV is a member of the genus lentivirus (ICTVdb
Descriptions, 61.0.6), part of the family of retroviridae (ICTVdb
Descriptions, 61). Lentiviruses have many common morphologies and biological
properties. Many species are infected by lentiviruses, which are
characteristically responsible for long duration illnesses associated with a
long period of incubation (Lévy, 1993). Lentiviruses are transmitted as
single-stranded negatively-sensed enveloped RNA viruses. Upon infection of
the target-cell, the viral RNA genome is converted to double-stranded DNA by
a virally encoded reverse transcriptase which is present in the virus
particle. This viral DNA is then integrated into the cellular DNA for
replication using cellular machinery. Once the virus enters the cell, two
pathways are possible: either the virus becomes latent and the infected cell
continues to function or the virus becomes active, replicates and a large
number of virus particles are liberated which can infect other cells.
Two species of HIV infect humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1
is the more virulent and easily transmitted, and is the source of the
majority of HIV infections throughout the world; HIV-2 is largely confined
to west Africa (Reeves and Doms, 2002). Both species originated in west and
central Africa, jumping from primates to humans in a process known as
zoonosis. HIV-1 has evolved from a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVcpz)
found in the chimpanzee subspecies, Pan troglodyte troglodyte (Gao et
al., 1999). HIV-2 crossed species from a different strain of SIV, found in
sooty mangabeys, an old world monkey of Guinea-Bissau (Reeves and Doms,
2002).
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