A person infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may not have any symptoms for a period of time. During this period the virus affects the body by doing which of the following? A. The virus uses nutrients meant for immune cells to fuel its own cellular respiration.

B. The virus produces toxins that weaken immune cells and prevent them from reproducing.

C. The virus changes the identity of the nucleotides of immune cells to prevent the immune system from functioning normally.

D. The virus damages immune cells while using their machinery to produce copies of itself.