New HIV variant could double AIDS cases

In a study conducted in England, it was announced that the new HIV variant detected recently could double the number of AIDS patients. 

The study, conducted by the University of Oxford, found that the new variant had higher HIV viral loads.

In a new study conducted in England, it was announced that the new HIV variant, which was announced to be detected recently, spreads two to three times faster.

While a cure for the HIV virus, which has millions of patients worldwide, has yet to be fully developed, British researchers have discovered a new HIV variant that can double the rate of immune system decline in infected people and cause AIDS to settle two to three times faster than other types of the virus.

Research led by scientists from Oxford University's Big Data Institute found that people living with the newly discovered variant (subtype-B) had higher HIV viral loads than those living with other variants.

While the variant was detected in the Netherlands, where researchers believe it has been in circulation for years, UNAIDS, the United Nations' (UN) AIDS-fighting program, said the new variant poses no major public health threat.

UNAIDS stressed that while the variant is open to current HIV treatment, the variant demonstrates the need for better access to HIV treatment to suppress the spread of the virus.

Stating that 10 million people living with HIV worldwide are not receiving treatment, the UN program underlined that the virus, the first case of which was detected in 1983, has been transmitted to 79 million people to date.

Underlining that 1.5 million people were infected with the virus in 2020, UNAIDS added that 36 million people have died from the disease, which it has defined as the deadliest epidemic in the last 40 years, to date.