How does HIV infect T-lymphocytes?

Human immunodeficiency virus abbreviated as #HIV# is a host-specific retrovirus that targets the major components of human immune system i.e #T#-#lymphocytes# or #T#-#cells#.

Infection cycle of HIV:

• Attachment:
  Firstly the HIV virus attaches to the #Cd4# receptor site on the T-cells. These fuse with the t-cell membrane and get entry into the cell's cytoplasm where they are uncoated.
• Reverse transcription and Integration:
  HIV virus being a retrovirus has a special enzyme known as reverse trancriptase on the #RNA# #"genome"#. This enzyme uses the #"viral RNA"# as a template to make a strand of #DNA# and then uses the DNA strand as a template to make a DNA double helix. Original viral RNA gets degraded.
  The viral DNA integrates into the chromosomal DNA of T-cell of the host, now becoming a provirus.
• Translation:
  The proviral DNA is transcribed into RNA which uses host cell's machinery to translate viral proteins to encase newly generated viral genome.
• Assembly and Release:
  So, new capsids assemble around #"viral RNA"# and reverse transcriptase molecules. And they bud off from plasma membrane of T-cell as mature HIV viruses, ready to attack more T cells.

Increasing number of Cd4 cells start to die due to HIV infection.