HIV Feels Fat

Anti-retroviral drugs have made a huge difference for people infected with HIV. Over recent decades they’ve turned HIV from a death sentence, when infection turns into full-blown AIDS, to a long-term chronic illness. And many people who are treated promptly will go on to live a normal lifespan. But although these drugs are good at keeping HIV under control, they don’t get rid of it completely so they’re not a true ‘cure’. Low levels of the virus hide in the body, causing chronic inflammation and related health problems. A new study shows that HIV-infected immune cells (the brown blob in this image) can lie low in a carrier’s body fat (the purple and white tissue), acting as a long-term viral reservoir. More fat probably means more viruses, so this raises an intriguing possibility to be researched: could helping infected people shed fat play a part in controlling their HIV levels?

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

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Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Image from work by Abderaouf Damouche and colleagues
• Université Paris Sud, France
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Pathogens, September 2015