Representation of the self-maintenance of HIV infection. The AIDS virus (in green) which has entered the blood vessel infects and integrates its genome with the inactive T lymphocytes (in pink on the right of the drawing). This triggers the apoptosis of infected T lymphocytes (in brown) which normally constitute the immune barrier preventing the passage of bacteria from the intestine to the bloodstream. The bacteria can therefore reach other regions of the body via the blood network and trigger inflammatory reactions in various organs. In addition, the macrophages (in pink on the left of the drawing), in contact with viruses other than that of AIDS, present the detected antigen of these other viruses to the infected T lymphocytes (in blue). These multiply, triggering the replication of HIV.