HIV (Photo : www.medicalnewstoday.com)
A new form of HIV has been discovered in some parts of Cuba and the victims of the new variant of virus is very aggressive than any other forms. Infected patients progress to AIDS rapidly without them knowing since AIDS symptoms occurs within three years of infection.
Once a person gets in-contact with multiple partners infected with AIDS, these different strains can recombine together into a new variant of HIV within the host, Medical News Today reported.
The new Cuban HIV variant is a recombinant version of the AIDS virus. This variant of HIV makes the shift to CXCR4 right after the infection which quickly reduces the healthy phase and starts the progress to AIDS.
According to Anne-Mieke Vandamme, a medical professor at Belgium's University of Leuvan, HIV without treatment can take five to ten years before it turns into AIDS.
"So this group of patients that progressed very fast, they were all recently infected," Vandamme explained. "And we know that because they had been HIV negative tested one or a maximum two years before."
The situation of HIV patients in Cuba is different; the quick development of HIV to AIDS is normally the result of a patient's weak immune system. The new variant is called CRF19 is a combination of HIV subtypes A, D and G, according to Design & Trend.
This new variant is more widespread in Cuba according to researchers. It was first known in Africa but was found immense in Cuba.
Vandamme mentioned that people having unprotected sex with multiple partners should undergo HIV tests early and as often as possible.
