New Strain of HIV-2 Isolated in the US
Author Information
Author(s): Stephen M. Smith, Deanna Christian, Valéry de Lame, Urvi Shah, Louise Austin, Rajeev Gautam, Aarti Gautam, Christian Apetrei, Preston A. Marx
Primary Institution: Saint Michael's Medical Center
Hypothesis
Can a new divergent strain of HIV-2 infect humans and lead to new outbreaks?
Conclusion
A new strain of HIV-2, HIV2-NWK08F, has been isolated from a patient, indicating potential for human-to-human transmission and immunosuppression.
Supporting Evidence
- A new strain of HIV-2 was isolated from a patient with CD4 T-cell lymphopenia.
- The patient had a proviral load of 6,100 copies per 10^6 PBMC.
- The virus was not detected by standard PCR tests for epidemic HIV-2 strains.
- Previous infections with divergent strains were thought to be 'dead-end' infections.
Takeaway
Doctors found a new type of HIV that can make people sick, and it might spread between people, which is surprising because most HIV-2 types don't do that.
Methodology
The virus was isolated from the patient's blood and analyzed using PCR and phylogenetic methods.
Potential Biases
Potential bias in the diagnosis due to the limitations of existing PCR tests for this divergent strain.
Limitations
The study is based on a single case, limiting the generalizability of the findings.
Participant Demographics
The participant was a 68-year-old male from Freetown, Sierra Leone, who immigrated to the US.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Want to read the original?
Access the complete publication on the publisher's website