Human immunodeficiency virus

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threateningopportunistic infections. Previous names for the virus includehuman T-lymphotropic virus-III (HTLV-III),lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), and AIDS-associated retrovirus(ARV).^[1][2]

Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 (in green) budding from cultured lymphocyte. Multiple round bumps on cell surface represent sites of assembly and budding of virions.