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HIV
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It was identified in the early 1980s, and belongs to a group of viruses called retroviruses.
HIV prevents the body’s immune system from working properly. Normally, the immune system would fight off an infection, but HIV infects key cells in the body’s natural defences called CD4 cells, which co-ordinate the body’s response to infection. Many CD4 cells are killed by being infected, and others, including some cells that remain uninfected, stop working properly.