Study Says Human Gut Hosts HIV @ whatisindia.com Friday, September 08, 2006 09:05:20 IST

A new study by researchers from the University of California revealed that the human gut hosts twice the amount of HIV virus as a person’s blood stream confirming medical suspicion that current anti-retroviral therapy alone is insufficient to cure an individual.

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While it has been known for a while that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and lymph nodes are principal reservoirs holding the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), this is the first time there is information on the role of gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). As is with PBMC, researchers say that the virus stored in the gut does not decay or reduce over time and unlike PBMC the HIV levels in the gut tissue continue to persist despite suppressive therapy.