Stochastic fate selection in HIV-infected patients.

Classic studies proposed that stochastic variability ("noise") can drive biological fate switching, enhancing evolutionary success. Now, Ho et al. report that HIV's reactivation from dormant (latently infected) patient cells-the major barrier to an HIV cure-is inherently stochastic. Eradicating an incompletely inducible (probabilistic) viral phenotype will require inventive approaches.