When, a RNA vaccine Messengerdeveloped by the lab Modernis being tested on humans, a new, more transmissible and virulent strain of HIV/AIDS has been discovered in the Netherlands. A situation that is already worrying UNAIDS, which considers that it is urgent not only to carry out screenings to properly locate the variant but also to put in place new medical innovations to definitively thwart the pandemic.
Research published by UNAIDS has revealed the existence in the Netherlands of a more transmissible and virulent variant of HIV. People who live with this subtype of HIV have their immune system weakened further and are more vulnerable. Worse, according to the survey, they have a higher viral load and are likely to develop AIDS two to three times faster after diagnosis.
The study conducted by a team of Big Data Institute de the University of Oxford, was the first to discover this variant of the B subtype of the virus. She also revealed that the variant has been circulating in the Netherlands for years and remains receptive to HIV treatment. “The HIV pandemic continues to be responsible for one death every minute and scientists have long feared that HIV is developing new variants that are more easily transmitted. The variant that has just been identified does not pose a major threat to public health, but does show the urgent need to accelerate efforts to end the AIDS pandemic“, we read in the document made public. Which adds that 10 million people living with HIV in the world are not yet on treatment. “Which fuels the spread of the virus and the potential for new variants,” regrets, in the document, the Deputy Executive Director of the Program at UNAIDS, Eamonn Murphy. “There is an urgent need to implement the latest medical innovations in such a way that they reach the communities that need them most. From HIV treatment to Covid-19 vaccines, unequal access fuels pandemics», ajoute Eamonn Murphy.
The latter recalls that HIV remains the deadliest pandemic. Because, it is estimated that more than 79 million people are infected with this virus against which there is still no vaccine or cure. New research indicates that since the start of the pandemic, approximately 36 million people have died. While 1.5 million people were infected with HIV in 2020. Still going into detail, the UNAIDS study reveals that of the 38 million people living with HIV today, 28 million are on antiretroviral therapy essential that keeps them alive and healthy while preventing the transmission of the virus.
Samba BARRY