INTRODUCTION

An estimated 33 million people globally are infected with the AIDS virus (HIV-1). Most of the infected individuals are poor, live in developing countries, and have little access to health care. Although initiatives are under way to bring proper medications to these individuals via a large infusion of money, this will benefit only approximately 2.5 million individuals and prevent 12 million new cases, as pointed out in a 2007 New York Times editorial. The remainder of these infected individuals will continue to increase the number of newly infected individuals. In this context, the medications decrease the viral load in treated individuals, but medications are expensive and would not reach many of the infected individuals living in developing countries.

Thus, many researchers are focusing on studies of the immunological concepts involved in the disease, not only to understand in greater detail why some individuals remain uninfected (they are not immune since some “resistant” women later acquire human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV), despite repeated exposure to infected individuals, but also to explore various vaccine candidates and concepts that might prevent the disease before exposure to the virus – candidates that would be cheap to make and inexpensive to deliver.

IMMUNOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF DISEASE

The pattern of disease progression has now been well documented. Following infection with the virus, the virus hones to and infects cells with CD4 receptors. During the early phase, individuals may experience a flu-like illness with mild fever, cough, and occasional chills. The symptoms subside, and the individual may be asymptomatic for many years.