The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (http://www.adarc.org/frame.asp?var=about_HIV") provides information on the five stages of HIV infection, namely: Entry, Reverse Transcription, Integration, Translation, and Exit. The first stage of the Entry of the HIV virion into the host cell known as the T-cell is triggered by the binding of membrane proteins of the virus into the receptors on the T-cell surface. The T-cell is a lymphocyte or white blood cell found in the bloodstream. Its main function is to protect and "eat away" or engulf foreign particles such as bacteria and viruses entering the body. In the event that a HIV virion entering a T-cell, the T-cell is eventually destroyed resulting to the weakening of the body's defenses. A shedding of the HIV' virion's capsid occurs in the second stage called the Reverse Transcription. In this stage, the viral RNA and its enzyme are exposed and then transcripted to becomea viral...
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