Scientists are researching a method for permanently silencing HIV, so that it cannot become active in the body. The virus hides in CD4 T-cells – this is known as the HIV reservoir – and the strategy is to trap it there. If that’s successful, HIV remains in the body but is no longer found in the blood. You could say that the virus has been taken prisoner. This method is called block and lock.
Researchers think that some of the virus might still escape, but in such small amounts that your immune system could clear it itself.
This is a simplification of how a complicated approach like this actually works.