Scientists have discovered a new HIV variant that has been in circulation for decades, which is far more contagious and deadly than other variants. Moreover, it was stated that this variant has been in circulation for decades.
The deadly disease caused by the HIV virus, known to be present in more than 30 million people worldwide AIDSUnfortunately, today, there is no treatment that completely eliminates it. Although the developed methods enable to keep the disease under control today, the work to find a vaccine against AIDS has not yielded any results for many years.
Recently, an extremely important finding was revealed about the HIV virus that causes AIDS. A much more damaging and contagious variant of the HIV virus, according to the study published in the journal Science, has been circulating in the Netherlands for decades. The variant increased the possibility of infecting people with the virus, and accelerated the development of AIDS by reducing the number of immune cells called CD4 T.
Makes AIDS develop twice as fast
According to the study, people who have the new variant discovered have a higher blood count than other variants. 5.5 times more HIV virus they carry. In addition, CD4 T cells of these individuals almost twice as fast decreasing. Scientists made a calculation with this data, and if there was no treatment, people with this variant You can develop AIDS in 2-3 years. they revealed. In other variants, this period The average was 6-7 years.
According to the scientists’ statement, the newly discovered variant of the HIV virus emerged in the Netherlands in the 1990s. However, the prevalence of the virus has increased especially with the initiatives taken to prevent HIV in the country. It has experienced a huge decline since 2010.. The variant was seen in only two individuals in Switzerland and Belgium, outside the Netherlands.
Although the scientists who conducted the research described the discovered HIV variant as ‘a reason to be careful’, it is a not a public health crisis expressed. According to the study, mutations in the variant do not serve to make it resistant to existing HIV drugs. well today’s drugs do not lose their effectiveness against this variant.