AIDS virus hits the brain in two ways: study

It is less common in people taking drug cocktails to suppress the virus, and why HIV damages brain function is not clearly understood.

The virus kills brain cells but it also appears to stop progenitor cells, known as stem cells, from dividing, the team at Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of California at San Diego found.

8220;It8217;s a double hit to the brain,8221; researcher Marcus Kaul said in a statement. 8220;The HIV protein both causes brain injury and prevents its repair.8221;

The cocktail of drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy or HAART that treats HIV does not infiltrate the brain well, allowing for a 8220;secret reservoir8221; of virus, said Stuart Lipton, who worked on the study.