Although HIV infection of resting CD4+ T cells is mostly abortive (Doitsh et al., 2010, Tilton et al., 2014), reverse transcription can occasionally be completed and the viral cDNA imported into the nucleus, resulting in either pre- or post-integration latency (Chavez et al., 2015, Pan et al., 2013, Zhou et al., 2005) without an intermediate phase of productive infection (Chavez et al., 2015, Vatakis et al., 2009). Here, CD4 is linked to HIV infectious disease.