A new super-mutant Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) strain has been detected in the Netherlands. The new mutant — called the VB variant — makes infected individuals ill twice as fast as current versions of the virus. It has infected at least 109 people.
VB variant features
- The new strain damages the immune system and weakens a person’s ability to fight everyday infections and disease faster than previous versions of the virus.
- The VB variant also has a viral load between 3.5 and 5.5 times higher than the current strain.
- This is the main group of HIV-1 that triggered the HIV pandemic worldwide in 1981.
- An analysis of genetic patterns suggests VB first arose during the late 1980s and 1990s in the Netherlands.
- The HIV virus itself first emerged in 1920 in Kinshasa (then Leopoldville), Belgian Congo.
About HIV
- HIV is a virus that damages the cells in human immune system and weakens the ability to fight everyday infections and disease.
- AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the name used to describe a number of potentially life-threatening infections and illnesses that happen when immune system has been severely damaged by the HIV virus.
- While AIDS cannot be transmitted from one person to another, the HIV virus can.
GS TIMES UPSC PRELIMS & MAINS CURRENT AFFAIRS BASED BASICS DAILY ONLINE TEST CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ FOR STATE CIVIL SERVICES
