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NerdWithoutACause t1_j3airig wrote

HIV is a retrovirus, meaning it inserts its genetic code into the host cells. So not only do those cells make the virus, but all their descendants will, as well. This makes HIV almost impossible to eradicate from the host.

We have drug treatments for leishmaniasis which are extremely effective, and once it’s out of your body, it’s gone for good. With HIV, we have treatments that can inhibit the virus’s spread inside the body, but the infect cells and their progeny are still infected, and will remain so for decades. If the treatment is stopped, the infection will resume in full force.

So basically, leishmaniasis is easily curable in most cases, but HIV is not.

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isisisisufo t1_j3diut8 wrote

This! Virus infection is way more dangerous than a protozoa one, for example. The life cycle of a virus evolves basically entirely around infect host cells to reproduce. Protozoas are more complex, they have more particular needs to set the proper environment to reproduce successfully and also to transmite.

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