Published in Physics World, 30 Apr 2010
Researchers in China have created what they claim is the most “detailed and realistic” model of HIV to date, and say that it could help in the creation of a vaccine for the deadly virus. However, immunologists warn that the model is yet to catch up with modern clinical trials.
According to the World Health Organization, HIV is one of the world’s biggest health challenges, infecting almost three million people and killing some two million people every year. When a person is infected, HIV enters into the immune system’s crucial T lymphocytes – or T cells – and replicates itself by integrating with the DNA. As a result the cells die and the immune system slowly weakens until it can no longer fight off opportunistic infections, a status classified as AIDS. […]
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