Early HIV-1 reservoir formation

Reservoirs of virus infection, impervious to antiviral drugs, are a serious obstacle to attempts to eradicate human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Dan Barouch and colleagues explore the timing of the formation of these reservoirs in a monkey model. They find that antiviral treatment as early as three days after infection of macaques with simian immunodeficiency virus - prior to the onset of viraemia - fails to prevent the seeding of viral reservoirs, and the virus eventually rebounds when drug treatment is discontinued.