The new HIV variant, discovered in patients in Cuba, progresses to AIDS in just 3 years after infection

Feb 13, 2015 07:26 GMT  ·  By

There's a new HIV variant in town and the sucky thing about it is that it is highly aggressive, scientists with the Belgium's KU Leuven warn in a recent study published in the journal EBioMedicine.

The newly discovered form of HIV has so far only been documented in patients in Cuba. The reason specialists say that it is highly aggressive is that, unlike other variants of this virus, in can progress to AIDS in just 3 years.

The KU Leuven scientists who discovered this previously undocumented variant say that, because of the aggressive nature of this form of the virus, patients risk developing AIDS long before they even realize that they are infected with HIV.

How a new HIV variant is born

Writing in the journal EBioMedicine, the KU Leuven researchers explain that, as shown by previous studies, people who have unprotected relations with multiple partners risk being infected with several different strains of HIV.

Once inside the body, these strains get together and exchange genetic material. In doing so, they can birth brand new virus variants. It's kind of like mixing and matching different pizza toppings to get a new slice that is nothing like anything you've tasted before, if you will.

The KU Leuven specialists believe that it was such random recombinations that happened inside the body of one or more patients that birthed the highly aggressive HIV variant that they documented in patients in Cuba.

What makes this new variant so aggressive?

The researchers detail that, having entered the body, HIV first attaches itself to cells. It does so by establishing connections with proteins on the cells' membrane. In the majority of cases, the virus prefers an anchor point dubbed CCR5.

A few years later, it switches to another anchor point identified as CXCR4. This can take years, but once the virus moves to this new location, patients risk experiencing a rapid progression to HIV.

The thing about the newly discovered HIV variant observed in patients in Cuba is that, when compared to its siblings, it is a tad hyperactive. Thus, it seems that it really does not like to hang around the anchor point CCR5. On the contrary, it rapidly moves to CXCR4.

Because it makes this transition much faster than other forms of the virus do, the newly discovered variant triggers a rapid progression to AIDS. Simply put, patients experience fewer healthy years before they get sick.

In fact, the KU Leuven specialists say that, in some cases, people can start feeling ill long before they even figure out that they have HIV in their body and seek help.