Close Menu
Asberth News Network
    Facebook Instagram
    • Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Download App
    Facebook Instagram
    Asberth News Network
    • Home
    • Latest News
    • Breaking News
    • Local News
    • Regional/International News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Back to School
    Asberth News Network
    Home»News»Regional/International News»Study identifies virulent HIV variant unrecognised for years
    Regional/International News

    Study identifies virulent HIV variant unrecognised for years

    February 4, 2022No Comments2 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Telegram WhatsApp
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
    Advertisements

    UNITED STATES (AP)— Scientists have found a previously unrecognised variant of HIV that’s more virulent than usual and has quietly circulated in the Netherlands for the past few decades.

    Advertisements

    Thursday’s report isn’t cause for alarm: HIV medicines worked just as well in people with the mutated virus as everyone else and its spread has been declining since about 2010. It was discovered as part of efforts to better understand how HIV continues to evolve.

    The finding emphasizes the importance of good access to testing and treatment so that whatever the variety, “HIV is suppressed as quickly as possible, which prevents transmission,” Oxford University epidemiologist Christophe Fraser, the study’s senior author, said in a statement.

    Different HIV subtypes circulate in different countries, some more severe or transmissible than others. Subtype B is the most common in the US and Western Europe. The Oxford team spotted 17 unusual cases while studying a database of European HIV patients — people who had more immune damage and were more infectious when they were diagnosed than is typical for subtype B.

    Since all but two of those cases were from the Netherlands, the researchers next combed through thousands of Dutch records. They eventually identified a cluster of 109 people infected with what they’re calling the VB variant, for virulent subtype B.

    The cases date back to the 1990s and early 2000s, and have declined more recently, the researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science.

    Before treatment, people with the VB variant had far more virus in their blood and suffered more immune system damage than people with other HIV variants, the study found. It’s not clear which of many viral genetic changes are the cause, but after treatment they fared the same as other HIV patients.

    Finding this type of variant “is not a public health crisis,” Joel Wertheim, a viral evolution expert at the University of California, San Diego, cautioned in an accompanying Science editorial. He wasn’t part of the Oxford research.

    Advertisements

    It “does not appear to have led to a spike” in HIV cases, Wertheim said in an email interview. But the finding highlights how much is left to learn about why a long-spreading virus “still has the potential to evolve and adapt. As this current pandemic continues to remind us, we shouldn’t underestimate the potential for viral adaptation.”

    Advertisements
    Advertisements
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    BOYCOTT AT THE MARRIOTT: Prime Minister and Police Commissioner Greeted by Empty Chairs at $150K Award Ceremony

    May 28, 2025

    St Lucia PM  Announces VAT Removal on Select Food Items by July 1

    May 20, 2025

    US forges ahead with 104% tariffs on China, says willing to talk to other countries

    April 8, 2025

    Trinidad Prime Minister calls   Election – April 28th,2025

    March 18, 2025
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Advertisements
    • Home
    • Latest News
    • Breaking News
    • Local News
    • Regional/International News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Back to School
    Our Socials
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    ANN

    Asbert News Network is the premier destination for local, regional and international news in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It’s tomorrow’s news today.

    © 2025 Asbert News Network
    • Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Download App

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.