New ‘highly virulent’ HIV strain discovered by Oxford researchers
- ‘No cause for alarm’, scientists said, even though finding a new variant with unusual properties – especially one with increased virulence – is ‘not normal’
- The VB variant, largely detected in the Netherlands, has over 500 mutations; patients infected with the variant decline twice as fast compared to others
Oxford researchers announced Thursday the discovery of a highly virulent strain of HIV that has been lurking in the Netherlands for decades, but because of the effectiveness of modern treatments, is “no cause for alarm.”
Their analysis, published Thursday in the journal Science, showed that patients infected with what they call the “VB variant” had 3.5 to 5.5 times higher levels of the virus in their blood than those infected with other variants, as well as a more rapidly fading immune system.
However, the study also found that after starting treatment, individuals with the VB variant had similar immune system recovery and survival to individuals with other HIV variants.
“There’s no cause for alarm with this new viral variant,” said Oxford epidemiologist Chris Wymant, the lead author on the paper. The variant likely arose in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the Netherlands, according to the researchers, but began to decline around 2010.
Since modern interventions still seem to work on the variant, the research team believes that widespread HIV treatment in the Netherlands did not contribute to the virus’s evolution, and that early detection and treatment are paramount.
“Our findings emphasise the importance of World Health Organization guidance that individuals at risk of acquiring HIV have access to regular testing to allow early diagnosis, followed by immediate treatment,” co-author Christophe Fraser, also an Oxford researcher, said in a press release announcing the findings.
The work also supports the theory that viruses can evolve to become more virulent, a widely-hypothesised idea for which few real-world examples have been found. The Delta variant of the novel coronavirus was another recent example.
