A New Strain of HIV Is Recorded Under Group That Caused Pandemic
Latest strain was found in just three people
Scientists using advanced DNA sequencing technology have documented a previously unidentified strain of HIV under the group that is responsible for the vast majority of human infections.
The previous strain in that group was documented in 2000.
The latest strain was found in just three people, but the findings by Abbott Laboratories ABT 0.15% —a maker of HIV tests—are expected to strike up a broader conversation about how to classify new viral strains that could surface. The company described its findings on Wednesday in an academic journal.
Strains from Group M are the most common in humans and are responsible for the global AIDS pandemic. M strains have infected about 90% of the 37.9 million people that the World Health Organization estimated were living with HIV last year. Group O, N and P infections are rare but can also affect humans.
Wednesday’s Abbott Labs findings have established a 10th group M strain. The three people who are known to carry it live in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the first HIV infection surfaced in a human in the mid-1900s. Decades later, the virus spread rapidly around the globe.
“So this sample just sat in our fridge for years, waiting to be unlocked,” said Mary Rodgers, Abbott’s principal scientist and one of the authors of Wednesday’s report.
It was only in recent years, with the falling cost of DNA sequencing and the emergence of so-called next generation sequencing technology, that Abbott scientists were able to isolate the viruses in the sample and read them.
“What we were able to do is basically take a magnet and pull out the virus part of it,” said Dr. Rodgers. The analysis confirmed the sample matched the unusual strain found in 1983 and 1990.
Abbott doesn’t plan to offer a new diagnostic test based on the discovery, but will make the DNA sequence of the new strain public so researchers can study it. Dr. Foley says the Los Alamos National Laboratory plans to add “L” as a new strain in its database.
The finding is prompting a rethink of guidelines surrounding HIV. When they were established in 1999, Dr. Foley says, decoding an entire genome was rare and the cost of sequencing was high.
“One of the things we’re going to talk about next year is should you need, say, 30 samples instead of three to count as a new strain?” he said. Dr. Foley is part of the committee that sets the rules.
Another challenge for the committee is naming new strains. The 10 Group M strains are denoted by letters, while letters O, N and P denote other HIV groups.
Either way, researchers say they will continue looking.
“There’s a lot out there that we don’t know. This is really the tip of the iceberg,” said Abbott’s Dr. Rodgers.