To answer this question, a brief understanding of HIV is necessary. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is, as its name suggests, a virus of the human immune system. HIV is a type of virus that integrates its own DNA into the host cell. In the case of HIV, the host cell is made up of CD4 T cells. Which cells are responsible for controlling and directing the body's immune system. In short, HIV integrates its own DNA into T cells to enable replication of viral DNA and proteins. The virus hijacks the function of T cells to create more copies of the virus. Further copies of the virus are released until the host cell dies. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay The key to why HIV is so deadly lies in this mechanism, as the host cell is destroyed and HIV replicates much more quickly than CD4 T cells, people infected with the virus will eventually become immunocompromised. Quantitative analysis of the CD4 cell count in an HIV-positive person is important in determining the progression of the virus. HIV-positive patients who have less than “200 cells (CD4)/mm3” have progressed to the AIDS (advanced immunodeficiency syndrome) stage of the virus. This is particularly important because it means that the individual is now vulnerable to “opportunistic infections,” which happen to be the leading cause of death among HIV-positive people. The self-defining term opportunistic infections (OIs) refers to any secondary systemic infection that occurs in HIV-positive individuals. OI can be a viral/fungal/bacterial infection or refer to cases of cancer caused by viruses in people living with HIV. The most common OIs in HIV patients include Pneumocystis pneumonia, Kaposi's sarcoma, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, cerebral toxoplasmosis, and tuberculosis. In a study published by The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 71% of individuals among 20,858 reported HIV deaths were due to OI. People with AIDS who are severely immunocompromised are unable to fight the secondary infection and the cause of death is usually attributed to the infection. HIV allows other, more serious, potentially fatal infections to take hold. It is not HIV that kills the individual, but rather the most serious opportunistic infections..