Scientists discover ‘new’ HIV variant that has been circulating in the Netherlands for decades

HIV variant in Europe: A variant of the HIV has been discovered by the scientists. The variant, though not new, had been previously undiscovered by the scientists, who have described it as more virulent than the usual virus. In fact, they have also found that this variant has been doing rounds in the Netherlands quietly for some decades now. However, it is pertinent to note here that the discovery of this variant is not likely to be harmful, since the people with this mutated virus have been treated just as well with the medicines as other people are. Moreover, the cases of this variant are on a decline in recent years, according to a report by AP.

The discovery came during scientists’ efforts to understand the continuous evolution of HIV. A statement cited senior author of the study Christophe Fraser, an epidemiologist with the Oxford University, as saying that this finding would help in highlighting the need to have access to testing and treatment so that any variant of the HIV is suppressed in a quick manner to prevent transmission.

Different countries have different subtypes of HIV circulating within the population, and among these subtypes, some can be more severe or transmissible than others. For instance, in Western Europe and in the US, Subtype B of HIV is the most common. In the study of the database of HIV patients in Europe, the team of scientists from Oxford came across 17 unusual cases in which patients were found to have more damage to the immune system and found to be more infectious than typical cases of Subtype B.

Most of these cases had been found in the Netherlands, and therefore, scientists began to look at the records of the disease in the country. Here, they found a cluster of 109 patients who had been infected by this newly discovered variant, which has been dubbed at the VB variant – to signify that it is virulent subtype B, the report stated.

These cases were from the decades of 90s and early ‘00s, with the numbers having declined recently, starting 2010. The research was published in Science journal.

Patients infected with the VB variant were found to have suffered from more immune damage, and contained a higher amount of virus in their blood vis-a-vis people with other variants, the study found. However, after treatment, the results in such patients were the same as those infected by other variants, even as it is not yet clear what viral genetic changes cause this variation.

While this variant in itself is not a public health crisis, according to University of California’s Joel Wertheim, who was not a part of the study, he said that the findings did highlight the extent of information that still needed to be gathered about the evolution and adaptation of a long-spreading virus, the report said.