A similar pattern was seen in the US Military Cohort of about 4,500 people. He said data from the cohorts and from computer modeling indicate that 7 in 10,000 of those infected with HIV will progress to AIDS within the first six months. More than 10,000 participants in the two cohorts are examined and their blood is drawn every six months. The first has followed gay men since 1984 the second primarily minority women since 1994. Stephen Gange is the principle statistician for the ongoing MACS and WIHS HIV cohort studies. Ongoing contact tracing has yet to find evidence of another person infected with a similar virus. They believe the rapid progression was more likely the result of factors unique to the patient’s genetics and health, not the virus. The other presenters at the special session saw the case as rare and worthy of investigation but not cause for a public warning.
The ensuing news conference set off a frenzy of media coverage. Ho feared the possible public health implications of these findings and notified New York City public health commissioner Thomas R. It is characteristic of late stage disease and rapid decline in health. The later variant is rarely transmitted sexually. About 60 percent of the virus used the CCR5 coreceptor to enter cells and 40 percent could use either CCR5 or the CXCR4 coreceptor. Laboratory tests detected viral RNA mutations that confer resistance to 19 of the 20 drugs commonly used to treat HIV.Įven more unusual was the swarm of virus infecting the patient. He believes the man became infected with HIV in October and by January his CD4 cell count declined to 80. Ho described the patient as a gay man, 46, who acknowledges having anonymous unprotected anal sex with hundreds of men, often while using crystal meth. Five other presenters then offered briefings on drug resistance and rapid disease progression to provide a context for interpreting data from the NYC case. 11, had its first scientific review at the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference in Boston.ĭavid Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and chairman of the conference, presented his data at an extraordinary special session on the evening of Feb. BOSTON – The controversial claim of a “super strain” of HIV, announced at a news conference in New York City on Feb.