HIV Transmission as a Chain Reaction: From Infection to Spread
HIV transmission follows a replicative cascade resembling a chain reaction:
- Source: Person with HIV (viremic).
- Exposure: Contact with infectious fluids (blood, semen, vaginal/rectal fluid, breast milk) via sex, needles, perinatal, occupational.
- Entry: Virus crosses mucosa/broken skin.
- Target Infection: HIV binds CD4+ T cells via gp120-CD4/CCR5/CXCR4 → fusion → entry.
- Replication: Reverse transcription → integration → viral gene expression → assembly → budding.
- Spread: New virions infect more CD4+ cells locally and systemically.
- Immune Decline: Progressive CD4+ depletion → immunodeficiency (AIDS).
- Transmission Onward: Infected person can transmit to new contacts.
Each infected individual becomes a potential new link. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) suppresses viral load to undetectable, breaking the chain (U=U: Undetectable = Untransmittable).
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