Genital tract reservoirs.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to review recent findings about HIV in the genital tract. HIV is primarily a sexually transmitted disease, and the efficiency of transmission must reflect the biology of the genital tract. In addition, it has become increasingly clear that the male and female genital tract represent a unique reservoir that requires independent and detailed study.


RESULTS
This review will address new data on the source of HIV in the genital tract, factors that affect HIV genital viral burden, ways that genital HIV differs from circulating HIV, drug resistance in the genital tract, and new insights and models of genital HIV transmission and immune response.


CONCLUSIONS
Understanding how HIV infects, resides, and survives in the genital milieu is critical to understanding the disease itself, and devising ways to halt its spread.
Galvin
Shannon R
SR
Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Cohen
Myron S
MS