Written By: Shraddha Rupavate | Published : December 2, 2014 10:53 AM IST
December 1 the World AIDS Day
A study that appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Monday suggested that the HIV is evolving to emerge as a less virulent strain than it was earlier.
The study, led by Philip Goulder, a professor at Oxford University, was conducted in Botswana and South Africa, two of the worst HIV/AIDS-hit countries. It enrolled more than 2,000 women with HIV to analyse the interaction between the body's natural immune response and HIV. (Read: World AIDS Day 2014: Is it the end of AIDS yet?)
Earlier studies on HIV suggested that patients having the gene HLA-B*57 have an advantage over those who don't as the gene confers protection against HIV and doesn't allow the virus to progress rapidly to cause AIDS.
In this study, it was found that HIV has, over the years, adapted itself to the presence of HLA-B*57 and still evolved to cause AIDS, so that humans carrying the gene too no longer can benefit from its protective effect. However, researchers found that in order to adapt itself to the gene effect, the virus had to reduce its ability to replicate, which makes it less virulent in the process. The researchers also noted that being less virulent doesn't mean the virus has lost its potency. (Read: World AIDS Day: Is lack of awareness delaying HIV eradication in India?)
According to the researchers, one of several factors that could end AIDS would be the development of a lesser strain of HIV. For the first time in HIV epidemic history, the number of new HIV cases was found to be lower than the number of people infected with HIV positive who are currently receiving treatment. This could be a crucial tipping point deaths from AIDS, the researchers noted. (Read: World AIDS Day 2014: It s Not Over watch an inspiring tale of 3 HIV+ people)
'Anything we can do to increase the pressure on HIV in this way may allow scientists to reduce the destructive power of HIV over time,' said Philip.
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