"Super" HIV Update

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

I thing this article was particularly good and dealt with some of the more alarming elements of this story and answered some of the questions floating around on the thread.

 

Here is an extract of the piece, but the full story can be found here: http://www.frontiersnewsmagazine.com/news/superhiv.html

 

According to George Ayala, director of the Institute for Gay Men's Health (which includes AIDS Project Los Angeles), "We already know that 8 to 20% of all new infections are resistant to at least one class of drug, and that 1 to 4% are resistant to more than one class of drug. We also know that there are people who rapidly progress from HIV infection to AIDS. What makes this case unique is that both happened at the same time."

 

Ayala said that, before the public becomes extremely alarmed, three criteria must be met: multiple cases have to be proven to be virologically related; the rapid progression of the infection must be shown to be related to the virus itself, and not to an individual's already weakened immune system; and the virus has to be readily transmitted.

 

At this point, there continues to be some disagreement within the medical community about whether the swift progression of the New York man's infection could be entirely attributed to mutations in HIV. It is also possible that his immune system was severely compromised by the persistent use of drugs.

 

That doesn't mean we should all sigh in relief, however. According to Dr. W. David Hardy, director of the Division of Infectious Disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, we do know that this strain of the virus went from attacking one particular type of immune cell, the macrophage, to attacking the patient's T cells in a matter of months. That process normally takes anywhere from eight to 10 years (though it could be less, or it could be as many as 25 years).