Virulence and Pathogenesis of HIV-1 Infection: An Evolutionary Perspective
Fraser C., Lythgoe K., Leventhal GE., Shirreff G., Hollingsworth TD., Alizon S., Bonhoeffer S.
HIV Virulence A major focus of research on HIV is on host responses to infection—understandably, because the virus targets the immune system and because of the interest in vaccine development. In reviewing what little research has been done on viral virulence determinants, Fraser et al. ( 10.1126/science.1243727 ) present evolutionary explanations for some of the poorly understood phenomena that mark HIV infection, including long-term survivorship, latency, rapid within-host evolution, and inheritability of between-host virulence.