The new strain of VB damages the immune system and weakens a person’s ability to fight everyday infections and diseases than previous versions of the virus.
In the Netherlands, scientists have discovered a new super mutant strain of HIV called VB. The strain damages the immune system twice as fast as other variants of the virus.
This is reported by the Daily Mail with reference to a study by the Institute of Extensive Data at Oxford University and the Dutch HIV Monitoring Foundation.
According to a study by Oxford University, at least 109 people have been infected with the new virus. Studies have found that the VB strain damages the immune system and weakens a person’s ability to fight everyday infections and diseases faster than previous versions of the virus.
The VB variant also has a viral load from 3.5 to 5.5 times higher than the current strain. This means, scientists explain, that infected people are more likely to transmit the virus to others. In addition, they report that the rapid deterioration of health after VB infection means that early detection and treatment are “critical”.
At the same time, independent experts say that the found variant of the HIV strain is not so dangerous. The analysis showed that VB originated in the 1980s, and its distribution has been decreasing since 2010.
According to recent studies, 17 cases of the new strain were detected in HIV samples collected from all over Europe and Uganda. Two cases were in Switzerland and Belgium, while 15 variants of VB samples were taken from individuals in the Netherlands. Subsequently, they identified 92 more people with this variant from all regions of the Netherlands, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 109 people.
Experts say that further studies of this variant may reveal new parts of the virus that can be defeated thanks to drugs.
