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Scientists have discovered a hitherto unknown variant of the HIV virus, which has spread unnoticed in the Netherlands over the past decades.
However, this fact is not to be worried about, as anti-AIDS drugs work just as well in people with the newly discovered variant of the virus, and its prevalence has been declining since 2010.
This new type of virus was identified by researchers’ efforts to understand how HIV continues to evolve.
“The finding underscores the importance of free access to testing and treatment so that any variant of the virus can be suppressed as quickly as possible, preventing the spread of HIV.“, Said the epidemiologist of the University of Oxford, Christoph Fraser.
Several different subtypes of HIV are circulating in several different countries, some of which are more dangerous and contagious than others. Subtype B is most common in the United States and Western Europe.
The Oxford team encountered 17 unusual cases in an analysis of a database of HIV patients in Europe. They were some people who exhibited a weaker and more contagious immunity than some others who were infected with subtype B when they were diagnosed.
All the cases, except for two people, were from the Netherlands, so the scientists focused on the databases there.
They were able to identify a group of 109 people infected with a variant of subtype B, called VB.
The cases date from the late 1990s and throughout the first decades of the 21st century, but have been steadily declining in recent years, say the study authors in the journal Science.
It is not yet known which of the many genetic changes in the virus is the cause of this type, but after treatment, those infected react like other HIV patients.
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