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.
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.