Artist's model of HIV virus (orange) between the surface folds of a dendritic cell, which is a type of immune cell. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By damaging your immune system, HIV interferes with your body's ability to fight the organisms that cause disease. The model is superimposed over an electron microscopy image. Created by Donald Bliss (NLM) and Sriram Subramaniam, 2010.