38 million people with HIV infections, globally. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of around 33 million people.Once inside a host cell, a retrovirus such as HIV replicates by converting its RNA genetic material into DNA and incorporating this into the DNA of the host cell.
The virus then hijacks the cell’s RNA and protein-producing machinery to make new copies of itself.Drugs that prevent HIV from replicating, known as antiretroviral therapy (ART), have proved highly successful at suppressing the virus, allowing many people with HIV to live long, healthy lives.However, people who take ART still have reservoirs of viable copies of the viral genome in their cells’ DNA.