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Posted on 06/13/2012 1:21:56 AM PDT by BlackVeil
They’re called HIV “superinfections” and a study indicates they’re much more common than first thought. Researchers say this raises concerns about possible resistance to treatment and may require new approaches to AIDS vaccine research.
Dr. Andrew Redd said there are HIV infections and then there are superinfections.
“A superinfection occurs when an individual is initially infected with a strain or strains of HIV. And then at some point later on – after that person has developed an initial immune response to their first infecting strain – at that later time point they come into contact through risky behavior with a second viral strain and then are superinfected with that second strain,” he said.
Redd is the lead author of the study and a scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He said prior to the research done in Uganda it was thought that superinfections were rare, occurring in intravenous drug users or men who have sex with men. Not so.
“What we found in our study was that when we looked at a general population of heterosexual individuals in Uganda we found that it actually isn’t as rare as what we thought. And that it is occurring at a significant rate even in the general population,” he said.
So how does a person become superinfected? Well, it has to do in part with where you are and what HIV subtypes are prevalent.
“There’s geographic separation between what we call the HIV subtypes, or clades. One of the interesting things about where we work in Uganda is it is at sort of the crossroads of two of those clades. The clades are labeled and named by letter – A,B,C.D. And in Uganda, we have subtype A and subtype D,” said Redd.
Continued risky behavior after initial infection could lead to infection by another subtype of HIV. Current testing methods will confirm whether a person is HIV positive. But they cannot determine what HIV subtypes caused the infection. For that, the researchers need what’s called “viral sequencing” -- an in-depth, complicated look at the viral DNA
Left untreated, superinfection could lead to an accelerated progression of HIV/AIDS. Redd says, though, that standard antiretroviral treatment should be effective against superinfections.
“We have no evidence so far and we don’t think that HIV superinfection affects the response to treatment. From what we can tell, individuals who get superinfected respond to treatment just fine and it lowers their viral load and they get healthier. One of the things that we’re worried about, though, if the possibility that an individual could get superinfected with a viral strain that is already resistant to the antiretroviral drugs and that would be a major problem. But to date that doesn’t seem to be a huge risk so far,” said Redd.
Superinfections could also affect how HIV vaccine research is conducted. For example, there are individuals who are at risk of HIV superinfection but do not become superinfected. They are somehow protected.
He said, “One question would be what natural immune response to their initial infection is protecting them from the superinfection. And if we can figure that out that may give us a very interesting avenue to pursue for HIV vaccine research.”
Redd added that current HIV vaccine strategies that try to “recreate the natural immune response may be insufficient to protect an individual from infection.”
Gotta love the code-”continued risky behavior”.
Didn’t Obama just declare June Continued-Risky-Behavior Pride month?
Countermeasures to countermeasures... Why do I keep suspecting there’s a higher power involved here that just might not like this “risky behavior” so much?
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
On the other hand, I don't necessarily chalk this up to a higher power that doesn't like certain activities. The way I see it, it's more like a higher power designed us a certain way and gave us a road map for successful life based on that design. Ignore the directions -- suffer the consequences. No one has anyone to blame but themselves if they choose a different route than the higher power intended.
The rason HIV is so prevalent is because it was decided early on not to treat it as TB was once treated-—with isolation.
It was considered homophobic to nip this problem in the bud by isolating Hoosexual men, so now we face a disease that is adapting itself to beat medical treatments.
Meanwhile the Homosexual population is growing by leaps and bounds as they recruit in schools and try to improve their image by destroying the thousands of years old structure of marriage.
True. Any “new” developments are really just consequences already built in to the original design.
If you believe this crap you deserve whatever you get!
I am always amazed that AIDS was not made a “notifiable disease” like syphillis or TB.
They were too busy being Politically Correct.
More people die from MRSA each year than HIV. The problem is, normal people get mrsa.
NYC Mayor Bloomberg, who wouldn’t dream of outlawing ‘risky behavior’ as a health issue, has no problem outlawing soft drinks taller than he is.
Multiple strains in one patient raises the risk of new strains arising. If we get new flu versions from people living together with pigs and poultry, 2 or more AIDS strains mixing in populations and one person could create a new strain to spread to others.
You nailed it, neither would our great fat fighter Muchelle.
I am afraid to even visit people in the hospital.
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