CMSP Cool Image of the Day

This scanning electron micrograph shows human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), (spherical in appearance) co-cultivated with human lymphocytes. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus, was identified in 1983 as the etiologic agent for the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is characterized by changes in the population of T-cell lymphocytes that play a key role in the immune defense system. In the infected individual, the virus causes a depletion of subpopulation of T-cells, called T-helper cells, which leaves these patients susceptible to opportunistic infections and certain malignancies.

Two studies in Africa add weight to previous data showing drugs used to treat HIV can reduce infection risk when taken daily.

The World Health Organization said the studies could have "enormous impact" in preventing HIV transmission.

The findings were revealed in the run-up to an AIDS conference in Rome.

"This is a major scientific breakthrough which re-confirms the essential role that antiretroviral medicine has to play in the AIDS response," said Michel Sidibé, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).