The T-4 helper cells are exactly the cells that the AIDS virus infects. It is actually a retrovirus, meaning that the virus attaches itself to RNA first and using RNA as an entry, infects the DNA of a host cell. The host transcribes the viral genes and synthesizes those proteins, producing new viral cells that spread the infection. The consequences of the infection of the T-4 cells by the AIDS virus are nothing short of the total collapse of the immune defense mechanisms, leaving the body vulnerable to diseases tat would ordinarily be rare in the high risk population. Without the T-4 cells to recognize antigen and communicate responses, all the other immune actions are short circuited.
B cells are unable to proliferate and produce adequate antibody to contain the virus.
T-8 cytotoxic and suppressor cells are similarly incapable of reproducing enough to meet the challenge. The natural killer cells and the macrophages receive no additional stimulation and are overwhelmed by the viral reproductions. The majority of AIDS victims have succumbed to Kaposi's Sarcoma, a cancer of the lining of the blood vessels, or to Pneumocystis Carinii, a protozean pneumonia, or to other diseases usually associated with immuno-suppression processes following organ transplants or involving chemotherapy. William Calderon, a hair stylist in San Francisco, was diagnosed as having Kaposi's Sarcoma in 1982. After an initial plunge into depression, he took control of his own recovery.