Aggressive New ? Virus Strain In Cuba Progresses To AIDS In Less Than 3 Years
Options
Young_Chitlin
Members Posts: 23,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
By Anthony Rivas
It’s been a little over 30 years since ? /AIDS first emerged as one of the deadliest diseases known to man, and in that time we’ve made great strides toward eliminating it out for good. Awareness remains high, fewer people are partaking in risky sexual behavior, and millions of people are undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART) to keep their immune systems strong. We’re fortunate to have made these advances because a new study has now identified a more aggressive strain of the ? virus.
The strain, called CRF19, has been spotted in parts of Africa, but it’s been found to be more widespread throughout Cuba. Researchers from the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium found the strain is capable of turning from an infection to full-blown AIDS within three years, a lot faster than the average conversion time period of about 10 years.
“We have a collaborative project with Cuba and the Cuban clinicians had noticed that they recently had more and more patients who were progressing much faster to AIDS than they were used to [seeing],” said Professor Anne-Mieke Vandamme, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Rega, according to Voice of America. “In this case, most patients had AIDS even at diagnosis.”
The findings are especially concerning considering many people might not even know they have ? infection. Firstly, because ? tests normally can’t detect the virus during the first few weeks of infection (sometimes months), thus producing false negatives. Also, once a person gets through the flu-like symptoms that characterize acute infection — usually occurring about two to four weeks after infection — the virus undergoes a latency period, during which time it replicates and lives inside the body without causing any symptoms. This is the period that normally lasts 10 years before AIDS develops. Many of the current study’s patients, however, had gotten negative test results a maximum of one to two years prior to participating.
Vandamme and her colleagues conducted their study by analyzing blood samples from 52 patients who experienced a rapid progression of AIDS and 22 healthy patients. They found CRF19 is a combination of the ? subtypes A, D, and G, and suggested that this combination has allowed it to drive a high viral load, which in turn boosts an immune response and quickens the onset of AIDS.
“There are two types of co-receptors (where the virus hooks onto human cells) that ? can use: CCR5 or CXCR4,” Vandamme said. “In the normal progression of the ? to AIDS, it often happens that the virus switches co-receptor. It almost always starts with using CCR5 and then it switches to CXCR4 after many years. And once it switches the progression to AIDS goes very fast.”
While the findings are certainly a cause for concern, we’re no longer blindsided by the dangerous virus. ART is capable of managing the virus before it becomes AIDS if a sick person takes the right steps toward diagnosis. The only way to do this, however, is to avoid risky sexual behaviors, such as having unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners.
Comments
-
New ? Strain in Cuba Has Researchers Rushing to Stop Fast Progression of AIDS
By Ryan Wallace
In a new study published in the journal EBioMedicine, researchers with Belgium's University of Leuvan report the discovery of a new strain of ? which may prove to be far more lethal to patients in the West. Originally found in patients in Cuba, the new strain poses particular threats to those infected with ? as it can develop into AIDS within three years of infection. Though efforts have significantly lowered the infection rates of ? , as well as prolonged lives with the help of antiretroviral drugs, researchers fear that the fast-moving virus may advance too quickly to treat.
While there are many variations in the form of the autoimmune infection, typical ? infection in the absence of treatment takes on average 5 to 10 years before entering the lethal stages of AIDS. And with antiretroviral pharmaceuticals, treatments in collaboration with powerful cocktails aimed at changing the immunological response can extend that period for significantly longer. However, the new strain discovered by Cuban health officials has raised great concern as the viral infection is far more aggressive, developing into AIDS within three years of infection.
With such a small WINDOW in the infection's manageable ? stage, researchers believe that the new aggressive form of ? may progress so quickly that the aid of many antiretroviral drugs may come too late.
"So this group of patients that progressed very fast, they were all recently infected" lead author of the study, Anne-Mieke Vandamme says. " And we know that because they had been ? negative tested one, or a maximum of two years before."
The study took blood from 73 recently infected patients, none of whom had received treatment for the virus. And within three years of infection all of the patients infected with the mutated strain developed AIDS. Knowing that fast progression is usually attributed to multiple variants, often with a patient's weak immune system being the main culprit, the researchers began to investigate the health of the patients and the attributes of their ? strains. What the researchers found was far more concerning.
"Here we had a variant of ? that we found only in the group that was progressing fast; not in the other two groups" Vandamme says. "We focused in on this variant and tried to find out what was different, and we saw it was a recombinant of three different subtypes."
The new variant named "CRF19" reveals a combination of ? subtypes A, D and G, and is far faster-acting than strains within the general populous. Though researchers believe that it is not the first time that this strain of the virus has been seen.
The variant has also been observed in Africa, though in too small of numbers to be fully researched. However, the strain is far more widespread in Cuba, providing researchers with a lot opportunities to track the infection, and find out how the new combination behaves.
While many may fear that the new strain is too lethal to combat, researchers say that the aggressive form of ? responds to most modern antiretrovirals, though more important is early detection of the infection. If patients are able to be tested early for ? infection, treatments may be able to delay the onset of AIDS far longer than what they are seeing now. And the researchers are urging people who have unprotected sex with multiple partners to be tested for ? early and often-it may save their lives. -
Could New ? Strain Cross the Atlantic? Fears of the Spread of Aggressive ? from Cuba
By: Ryan Wallace
Though advances in ? research and treatment have come to find ways of mitigating the virus, the disease continues to affects millions worldwide. And when the virus moves quickly, so does fear. In light of the discovery of a new strain of ? , many are left wondering--could you too be at risk for contracting the disease?
In a new study published in the journal EBioMedicine, researchers with Belgium's University of Leuvan report the discovery of a new strain of ? which may prove to be far more lethal to patients in the West. Originally found in patients in Cuba, the new strain poses particular threats to those infected with ? as it can develop into AIDS within three years of infection. Though efforts have significantly lowered the infection rates of ? , as well as prolonged lives with the help of antiretroviral drugs, researchers fear that the fast-moving virus may advance too quickly to treat.
The new aggressive form of the disease cuts the WINDOW of treatment, which on average is five to ten years after infection until the virus enters the stages of AIDS, to less than three years before patients have full-blown AIDS. And though many antiretroviral cocktails have proven effective in slowing down the progression of the disease, researchers fear that without early detection methods the fast-acting strain may render the aid of drugs too little too late.
Knowing that fast progression of ? is typically attributed to the compromised immunological responses of the individuals, researchers led by study author Anne-Mieke Vandamme investigated 73 recently infected patients and found that their collective immune systems weren't to blame for the aggressive infection. Instead, it was a new form of the disease altogether.
"Here we had a variant of ? that we found only in the group that was progressing fast; not in the other two groups" Vandamme says. "We focused in on this variant and tried to find out what was different, and we saw it was a recombinant of three different subtypes."
The new variant named "CRF19" reveals a combination of ? subtypes A, D and G, and is far faster-acting than strains within the general populous. Though researchers believe that it is not the first time that this strain of the virus has been seen.
The variant has also been observed in Africa, though in too small of numbers to be fully researched. However, the strain is far more widespread in Cuba, providing researchers with a lot opportunities to track the infection, and find out how the new combination behaves.
While researchers believe that it is possible that the new mutated form of the virus may make its way to other shores, past experience with the strain in Africa has proven that the fast-acting strain may just remain an isolated incident. As Cuba is an island nation, the virus remains rather removed from other populations. And current trade embargos with Cuba also keep possible transmission contact low. Researchers are urging those who have had possible exposure, or who have engaged in unprotected sex with multiple partners to be tested early and often. -
This is some scary ?
-
when cuba opens up...it opens up with everything
-
Well ? ...
-
Saw this coming. It's happened with other STDs. Was bound to happen with ? .
Can't beat nature. -
Them ? aint waste no time... They went straight to work.
-
The monster has gotten stronger and there still is no cure.. Smh...
-
stringer bell wrote: »The monster has gotten stronger and there still is no cure.. Smh...
-
Not a peep about this in the news.
-
Damn nature really wants to thin the herd....it wants a lot of us gone : (
-
Hey. Keep your ? out of the line of fire, don't share needles if you shoot up, and only do blood work with a professional medical center, and you have nothing to worry about.
-
That ? been over here. True it will be more common since the sanctions have been lifted and people travel back n forth regularly.
-
this is why you should only say yes to handjobs.
