BBC News published this video item, entitled “Co-discoverer of HIV Luc Montagnier dies aged 89 – BBC News” – below is their description.
Luc Montagnier, the French virologist credited as a co-discoverer of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has died aged 89.
Montagnier was jointly awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for his work in isolating the virus that causes Aids.
He was lauded for this work, but later criticised for unscientific claims about autism and Covid-19.
He died on Tuesday in Neuilly-sur-Seine “surrounded by his children”.
BBC News YouTube Channel
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In This Story: HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.
Without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype. In most cases, HIV is a sexually transmitted infection and occurs by contact with or transfer of blood, pre-ejaculate, semen, and vaginal fluids. Research has shown (for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples) that HIV is untransmittable through condomless sexual intercourse if the HIV-positive partner has a consistently undetectable viral load.
Non-sexual transmission can occur from an infected mother to her infant during pregnancy, during childbirth by exposure to her blood or vaginal fluid, and through breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells.
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