Posted on 11/06/2019 9:53:05 AM PST by karpov
Scientists using advanced DNA sequencing technology have documented a previously unidentified strain of HIV under the group that is responsible for the vast majority of human infections.
The previous strain in that group was documented in 2000.
The latest strain was found in just three people, but the findings by Abbott Laboratories —a maker of HIV tests—are expected to strike up a broader conversation about how to classify new viral strains that could surface. The company described its findings on Wednesday in an academic journal.
Strains from Group M are the most common in humans and are responsible for the global AIDS pandemic. M strains have infected about 90% of the 37.9 million people that the World Health Organization estimated were living with HIV last year. Group O, N and P infections are rare but can also affect humans.
Wednesday’s Abbott Labs findings have established a 10th group M strain. The three people who are known to carry it live in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the first HIV infection surfaced in a human in the mid-1900s. Decades later, the virus spread rapidly around the globe.
Researchers and epidemiologists don’t expect the new Group M strain to change the way HIV is diagnosed or treated. Existing diagnostic tests and antiretroviral drugs, which suppress the growth of HIV, are designed to target the parts of the virus that are common to all groups.
Still, they say new strains can offer clues on how HIV evolved and spread.
“There’s a lot of mystery around why certain things happened. New strains can unravel some of that unknown history,” said Brian Foley, an HIV geneticist at New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, which holds the largest HIV gene bank and sets the guidelines on classifying new strains.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I wish someone were paying me. You can get still information from the part that is posted.
I don’t have a WSJ subscription. It’s too far left.
Well, I’d say the group that caused the pandemic was “gay men”
Entering the highway from the off-ramp was the likely cause.
There should be no surprise in this. The development - a new starin - is normal in the natural course of events concerning viruses and bacteria that are harmful to us and our attempts to defeat them. The scientific question was never if a new strain would develop, only when.
—> Los Alamos National Laboratory, which holds the largest HIV gene bank <—
Dang! I grew up there! LANL used to be only (as far as anyone on the outside new) just particle physics...nuke stuff. My stepdad is retired LANL.
Yeah that ‘largest HIV bank’ thing is interesting. Whats the military/gov want with HIV genes? There aint nuthin in that town that aint a mil/gov thang.
Decades later, the virus spread rapidly around the globe.
Thanks to "do-gooders".
A group went vaccinating in Africa, and kept reusing needles.
It's thought that an isolated village had somebody that was infected (random attack or while trapping) by a monkey/chimp/etc, and the do-gooders came traipsing through, got the not-so-precious bodily fluids on one or more needles, and then it off to the next village down the road/river to vaccinate and infect that neighborhood...
Ever know anybody in the UPPU club there?
I love my WSJ subscription. It is not always covering each story the way I like but there are days when it is worth every penny and there are many quotes from the editorial pages that resonate with me, that I sorely wish more people would read.
It’s an expensive subscription, but reading it has been very beneficial for our family.
Go ahead, say something mean now.
I’m loving the Epoch Times. Excellent investigation and reporting! They offer a daily e-newspaper and a weekly print paper.
“... live in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo ...”
Seems like every nasty disease comes from the Congo.
Is this another pestilence from Kitum Cave?
Although Kitum Cave is in Kenya, it ain’t that far.
They should fill that thing with petrol and burn it out.
That stuff should have been moved to Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. Much closer to a mass of potential end users.
Something mean now
lol!
It’s also in Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-new-hiv-strain-in-19-years-identified/
The life-styles of the “gay community” will ensure that any new incurable sexually transmitted diseases will be rapidly spread globally.
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