Hiv-reservoirs
Everyone hoped that the virus had been beaten when CD4 cells were protected with combination therapy, but that wasn’t the case. Some CD4 cells that become infected with HIV remain ‘dormant’.
These inactive cells can no longer be recognised by the immune system, so that antiretroviral drugs cannot suppress them. These inactive CD4 cells are called the HIV reservoir.
A dormant CD4 cell can become activated (wake up), and the virus in that cell can then attack other cells. The virus starts to spread once again. People with HIV have to remain on HIV treatment to make sure that dormant cells are not activated.