The approach employed by the research team could be used against other diseases—including COVID-19 and influenza.

Swollen lymph nodes may hurt or be tender to the touch. Even as the other signs of the acute HIV infection go away, swollen lymph nodes can persist in some people for many weeks or months.

The researchers examined the lymph nodes of healthy people and people with advanced HIV disease, finding increased IL-7 in the T-cell depleted lymph nodes of people with advanced HIV, Napolitano said.

It can present unique symptoms such as swollen lymph nodes and night sweats. It also poses a challenge in diagnosis and treatment in comparison to lymphoma in individuals without HIV.

Swollen lymph nodes serve as a crucial early warning system when the body fights HIV. These changes often appear subtle at first but persist beyond the duration of typical viral infections.

To do this more directly than ever before, researchers from Yale University injected a fluorescently labelled version of HIV into the lymph nodes of mice. The lymph nodes are thought to be the ...

A common sign that’s easily ignored Because swollen lymph nodes can be caused by many other infections and health conditions, they are often dismissed as being due to a cold or other minor illness.

"There are more than 800 lymph nodes throughout the body," says Dr. Ling. "Knowing which types of lymph nodes to target can lead to more tailored therapies or treatments and hopefully prevent HIV ...

"There are more than 800 lymph nodes throughout the body," says Dr. Ling. "Knowing which types of lymph nodes to target can lead to more tailored therapies or treatments and hopefully prevent HIV ...

Next, they couldn't find HIV in lymph nodes, or lumps of immune tissue that contain white blood cells and fight infection. Lymph nodes in the limbs were the first to be HIV-free, followed by lymph ...

The lymph nodes are where protective "B cells" are exposed to antigens—the substances that the body uses to recognize a given infection—and learn to produce the antibodies to fight back.