WASHINGTON (AP) -- New research into AIDS may point the way to better treatments for the disease.
Researchers at the University of Michigan report that the virus that causes AIDS can hide in bone marrow, avoiding drugs and later awakening to cause illness.
In a report in this week's edition of the journal Nature Medicine, researchers say the virus can infect long-lived bone marrow cells that eventually convert into blood cells. Then it can be reactivated and cause renewed infection. The virus kills the new blood cells and moves on to infect other cells.
Dr. Kathleen Collins of the University of Michigan says understanding where a latent infection can continue is an important step to finding a way to get rid of the cells.