Question

At which stage of HIV infection does one usually show symptoms of AIDS?
(A)Within 15 days of sexual contact with an infected person
(B) When the infecting retrovirus enters host cells
(C) When viral DNA is produced by reverse transcriptase
(D) When HIV replicates rapidly in helper T-lymphocytes and starts to reduce the number of TH cells by destroying them.

Answer 1

When human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) enters into the body, the Ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome of this virus starts replicating frequently and produces viral Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) in the presence of reverse transcriptase enzyme. This enzyme gets inserted within the DNA of the host cell and assists the cells to generate the viral bodies.

Complete answer:
It has been observed that most of the people infected with HIV at the initial stage are unable to get detected. So, it becomes very difficult to mitigate the development and spread of this infection within the body. HIV passes into the macrophages rapidly when a human being is infected with this virus. The HIV infection targets the macrophages and continues to replicate the virus rapidly. Concurrently, the HIV arrives within the body, deteriorates the T- lymphocytes (affects the defensive mechanism of the body), frequently imitates new viruses and produces more number of similar viral bodies. These huge numbers of viral bodies of the HIV infection spreads into the blood and significantly attacks other lymphocytes within the cells and thus effectively reduces the T- lymphocytes count. This makes a person more diseased and does not allow the infected person to get healed.
Therefore, when the HIV replicates rapidly within the helper T-lymphocytes (defensive cells) of a person infected with this virus, then at this stage the infected person shows the symptoms of AIDS (Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

Hence, the correct answer is option (D)

Note: The HIV causes AIDS and sexual transmittance is one of the major probabilities of transfer of this virus from an infected person to a healthy person. The detection and level of the HIV infection is usually measured as viral load. For instance, a blood sample of a patient with viral load of 10,000 is less infected as compared to the sample of a patient detected with a viral load of 50,000.