HIV-AIDS and STDs

HIV and Retroviral Diseases

A retrovirus is a type of virus that belongs to the Retroviridae family that transmits its genetic blueprint in the form of ribonucleic acid (RNA).  Retroviruses are called after the reverse transcriptase enzyme, which was discovered by American virologists Howard Temin and David Baltimore in 1971. Reverse transcriptase is a protein that converts RNA to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), reversing the usual direction of cellular transcription (DNA into RNA)  Because of the operation of reverse transcriptase, genetic material from a retrovirus has the potential to become permanently integrated into the DNA genome of an infected cell. In the biological sciences, the enzyme is widely employed to combine genes. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans. Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a retrovirus prevalent in chimps and gorillas, is closely linked to HIV.