How does HIV attack the immune system?
Once HIV enters the body, it gets attached to a type of white blood cell called T lymphocyte (which is the T cell in the human body’s protection against infections). The RNA (genetic material) of the virus then gets converted to DNA (genetic material) by an enzyme that the virus produces. This viral DNA then gets incorporated into the DNA of the human cell (T lymphocyte), and remains there for the lifetime of that cell. This infected cell now becomes a virus factory producing more viruses (HIV) which bud out of the cell, attack new T lymphocytes, and destroy them. Over a period of years, the T cell count of the infected person drops to a critical level and the individual develops many opportunistic infection and hence is then said to have AIDS.
