Hybrid HIV strain found in N-E

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Hybrid HIV strain found in N-E

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Posted online: Monday, July 07, 2008 at 2220 hrs

Pune, July 6: In a significant finding, scientists at the Pune-based

National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) have, for the first time,

found a novel 'recombinant' strain of the HIV virus in the North East

region of the country. Not only does it resemble the strain from

Thailand, but scientists have expressed caution that surveillance

measures need to be taken for checking the emerging strains across

the country.

Presently the sub type C strain of the HIV virus is prevalent in the

country. The HIV epidemic in the country has been primarily driven by

sexual transmission and this finding now complicates the attempts

towards defining intervention strategies, particularly in developing

anti-AIDS vaccines.

Scientists at NARI have documented in the journal AIDS Research and

Human Retroviruses, published in the January and February 2008

issues, novel instances of B/C recombination in HIV-1 circulating in

India where the origin of two subtypes, clade C and clade B differed

and resembled a form that had established a foothold in Thailand.

When contacted, Dr Ramesh Paranjape, Director of NARI, said that the

emergence of the new strains could be due to cross-border migration

and tourism. Further research will help us understand how effective

this new combination of the B-C strain can be in transmitting the HIV

virus from one individual to another, Paranjape told The Indian

Express.

Due to drug trafficking in the North-Eastern region which also has a

high number of injecting drug users (IDUs), there is a strong

possibility of the area being susceptible to emerging strains across

the border, scientists point out.

Dr Shrikant Tripathy, Deputy Director of NARI, said that if one

person is infected with the Thai strain and also has the Indian

strain of HIV, it is likely that that the two viruses can combine to

form a recombinant or a hybrid strain. What is important now is to

investigate how effective this strain can be in transmitting HIV from

one individual to another, says Tripathy.

Paranjape said four blood samples taken from HIV patients in Manipur

were identified with the novel HIV-1 B/C recombinant strain. If this

strain is found to be widely circulating in this geographical area,

then one needs to investigate as to how this virus responds to HIV

treatment. These circulating recombinant forms play a major role in

the global AIDS epidemic.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/332199.html