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> Assuming you could, wouldn't the immune system lose that fight? It specifically attacks the immune system after all. deliberately increasing HIV viral load wo

> Assuming you could, wouldn't the immune system lose that fight? It specifically attacks the immune system after all. deliberately increasing HIV viral load would probably be on the same level of danger as nuking someone's bone-marrow to prepare for a bone-marrow transplant. HIV kills in the long term. The human body fights very well against HIV, it just exhausts its resources. One massive "outbreak" (I have no idea what that would look like), would be essentially laying out all of the HIV to the immune system saying "Here. Now do something about all of this." > HIV is also a retrovirus which means it embeds its genetic code into host cell DNA. It can't be cured simply by getting rid of all present viruses. T-Cells remove infected cells. That would be the mechanism of removal from the body.

bregma 4y ago
Since HIV infects T-cells, ramping up the T-cells to kill the T-cells will result in a higher viral load leading to an out-of-control spiral, and certain death. That's how HIV kills in the first place.
- John23832 4y ago
  I’m not an expert on HIV, but that's not correct. HIV infects your helper T cells. Helper T cells activate your B cells which create antibodies that alert for intrusions. Those antibodies then cause your Killer T cells to act (actually kill and remove intruders). HIV basically causes your Helper T-Cells to die (quicker than they are naturally replaced by the body) causing an under-reaction (and eventually no reaction) by your B cells (which then means there are no antibodies for your Killers to act on). Essentially your immune system is turned off. This allows for opportunistic infections which are what actually kills you. That’s the resource exhaustion that I was referencing. This is also why there is a focus on keeping CD4+ (Helper) T-cell levels high. You want your immune system to keep responding to outside threats. An HIV outbreak would not mean that all of your Helper T-Cells are infected. It means that HIV in the viral reservoirs are active. Actively producing Helper T-Cells are cells that your body could then target. Killers would kill the affected Helpers, but your body would reproduce Helpers. The goal would be to allow your body to "be able to see" all of the infected Helpers.

bregma 4y ago

Since HIV infects T-cells, ramping up the T-cells to kill the T-cells will result in a higher viral load leading to an out-of-control spiral, and certain death. That's how HIV kills in the first place.

John23832 4y ago
I’m not an expert on HIV, but that's not correct. HIV infects your helper T cells. Helper T cells activate your B cells which create antibodies that alert for intrusions. Those antibodies then cause your Killer T cells to act (actually kill and remove intruders). HIV basically causes your Helper T-Cells to die (quicker than they are naturally replaced by the body) causing an under-reaction (and eventually no reaction) by your B cells (which then means there are no antibodies for your Killers to act on). Essentially your immune system is turned off. This allows for opportunistic infections which are what actually kills you. That’s the resource exhaustion that I was referencing. This is also why there is a focus on keeping CD4+ (Helper) T-cell levels high. You want your immune system to keep responding to outside threats. An HIV outbreak would not mean that all of your Helper T-Cells are infected. It means that HIV in the viral reservoirs are active. Actively producing Helper T-Cells are cells that your body could then target. Killers would kill the affected Helpers, but your body would reproduce Helpers. The goal would be to allow your body to "be able to see" all of the infected Helpers.