I Read That There Is A New Stain Of Hiv In Cuba .. It Advances To Aids Much Quicker.. Does Anyone Have More Information On This | myHIVteam

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I Read That There Is A New Stain Of Hiv In Cuba .. It Advances To Aids Much Quicker.. Does Anyone Have More Information On This
A myHIVteam Member asked a question 💭
posted August 8, 2019
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A myHIVteam Member

Strains continuo to show up in New forms, shapes and sizes.These statistics are continuously changing. Change is awkward and fast. But it takes research and yrs of studies to produce something concrete. We've come this far!!!
NOTHING SHOULD STOP THE SCIENTISTS AND RESEARCH TEAMS FROM PRODUCING FACTS THAT ARE TRUE.

posted August 8, 2019
A myHIVteam Member

..be aware this strain is currently being seen in Cuba..let us not jump the gun..first know your strain! I am HIV 1 ..I have a progressive strain with subtypes that prompt me to go to AIDS rather quickly...others never even have an opportunistic infection..ask your doc about your strain....than know your hiv poz sex partners' strain..discuss ............................................................................................ If hes negative and you're undetectable, ..no worries other than STDs of course...:)..U=U

posted August 8, 2019
A myHIVteam Member

I found this ..looks like it is an HIV 1 aggressive strain with 3 subtypes..progressing it to AIDS quicker...this is the medical explanation....
CRF19_cpx is an Evolutionary fit HIV-1 Variant Strongly Associated With Rapid Progression to AIDS in Cuba
•We propose that CRF19 is evolutionary very fit, causing rapid progression to AIDS in many newly infected patients in Cuba.
•CRF19 is a recombinant of subtype D, subtype A and subtype G, with a subtype D protease estimated to be particularly fit.
•A fit protease with high viral load and co-infections, may boost RANTES levels and thus CXCR4 use, hence fast progression.
Abstract
Background
Clinicians reported an increasing trend of rapid progression (RP) (AIDS within 3 years of infection) in Cuba.

Methods
Recently infected patients were prospectively sampled, 52 RP at AIDS diagnosis (AIDS-RP) and 21 without AIDS in the same time frame (non-AIDS). 22 patients were sampled at AIDS diagnosis (chronic-AIDS) retrospectively assessed as >3 years infected. Clinical, demographic, virological, epidemiological and immunological data were collected. Pol and env sequences were used for subtyping, transmission cluster analysis, and prediction of resistance, co-receptor use and evolutionary fitness. Host, immunological and viral predictors of RP were explored through data mining.

Findings
Subtyping revealed 26 subtype B strains, 6 C, 6 CRF18_cpx, 9 CRF19_cpx, 29 BG-recombinants and other subtypes/URFs. All patients infected with CRF19 belonged to the AIDS-RP group. Data mining identified CRF19, oral candidiasis and RANTES levels as the strongest predictors of AIDS-RP. CRF19 was more frequently predicted to use the CXCR4 co-receptor, had higher fitness scores in the protease region, and patients had higher viral load at diagnosis.

Interpretation
CRF19 is a recombinant of subtype D (C-part of Gag, PR, RT and nef), subtype A (N-part of Gag, Integrase, Env) and subtype G (Vif, Vpr, Vpu and C-part of Env). Since subtypes D and A have been associated with respectively faster and slower disease progression, our findings might indicate a fit PR driving high viral load, which in combination with co-infections may boost RANTES levels and thus CXCR4 use, potentially explaining the fast progression. We propose that CRF19 is evolutionary very fit and causing rapid progression to AIDS in many newly infected patients in Cuba.

posted August 8, 2019
A myHIVteam Member

This what I found and it has been verified!
HIV strain found in Cuba could be the most aggressive ever studied in humans
Other fast-acting HIV variants exist, but new strain is the first in which all observed patients develop Aids within three years

Payton Guion
Thursday 19 February 2015 22:01
The Independent US Researchers recently identified an aggressive new strain of human immunodeficiency virus in Cuba that advances to Aids much faster than the average strain, but this variant of the virus may be the most aggressive ever studied in humans.

Other fast-acting variants of HIV exist, but the Cuban strain is the first in which all observed patients infected with a particular strain of HIV progress to Aids at the accelerated rate, Anne Mieke Vandamme, the researcher from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium who published findings on the Cuban strain, told The Independent.

“The difference is that with most clades, only a minority of patients infected with a virus from that clade progress so fast,” Dr Vandamme said, using the word clade to mean subtype of HIV. “Here, all patients in our cohort infected with a virus from the CRF19 variant progress to Aids within 3 years. This is the first variant where this has been noted.”

Only 73 patients have been studied so far, but the 73 progressed to Aids within a median time of 1.4 years after being infected with HIV. The average HIV strain advances to Aids within a median time of 9.8 years.

Still, the small sample size means that researchers have a lot left to learn about the new strain. Dr Vandamme said her team is collecting data on 144 cases after the initial study.

“We indeed did not have so many CRF19-infected patients in the cohort, but the difference was so striking that even with this small sample size the effect was very significant,” Dr Vandamme said. “This means the difference is huge. Of course this needs to be repeated in a much larger sample size to verify if the results will hold. However, we felt that we had to publish now already.”

Cuban clinicians reportedly were worried about the aggressive strain of HIV and asked Dr Vandamme’s team to investigate. Despite the rapid progression, she said the virus is spreading slowly and does not yet pose a health threat in Cuba or the rest of the world, but it is possible it could spread.

“I suspect it would need to reach even higher levels in Cuba before we should start fearing that it will spread to other countries, this may take many years or not happen at all,” she said. “But with virus spread, a chance event can make all the difference, you just need one patients taking this virus out of Cuba and passing it on abroad, where it could spread further.”

As of 2013, some 15,000 people in Cuba were living with HIV, out of about 11.3 million, according to the United Nations.

posted August 8, 2019
A myHIVteam Member

Then this going back to the question about U=U. In this case, it looks like being undetectable wouldn't mean a thing because it is a different strain that medications may not cover if you got infected.

posted August 8, 2019

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