Scientists in France have identified two cases of HIV which are showing resistance to 4 different types of retroviral drugs, according to Aidsmap.com. Two men, one 23 years old diagnosed in 2019, and one 54-year-old man diagnosed in 1995, have both presented a strain of HIV which is shown to have a high degree of resistance, as well as an undamaged capacity to replicate, potentially with very serious consequences.

Reporting data taken from a Lancet paper by Doctor Stephanie Raymond and peers at the Toulouse University Hospital, research suggests that this highly unusual diagnoses, drug-resistant HIV-1, may pose a public health threat that scientists have been warning about. Data from the paper indicates that in France, less than 0.1% of HIV strains had "triple-class" resistance, and this new strain with "quadruple-class" resistance presents new challenges to the medical community that is trying to combat the effects of HIV.

It is believed that this particular strain of the virus mutated through the incorrect dosage of retroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV: by not taking enough, the virus may have developed immunity through mutations, the sort of which scientists have been warning about in other viruses and antibiotics for years.

According to Aidsmap.com, the particular threat from this virus is that the two cases show evidence that people can contract this new strain of HIV-1 whilst taking HIV treatment or pre-exposure prophylaxis (more commonly known as PrEP). A similar case was diagnosed in New York in 2004, but due to a lack of available treatments at the time, rapidly progressed towards AIDS faster than it could be spread.

Doctor Raymond and her team hope that they can try a new 5-drug cocktail to treat this strain, and keep it in remission, but have cited that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of the research on how this strain of HIV-1 has adapted to the host, how it may react in transmission, and whether or not the "viral fitness" - the extent at which it replicates and could be transmitted - has been affected by this new mutation.

Read related myGwork articles here:

Criminalisation Of Gay Sex In Africa Linked To Higher HIV Rates, Research Reveals

Breakthrough Trial for First HIV Cure Sees First Case in Remission

New Discovery Reveals Brain Cells Can Spread HIV to the Body

Keep up to date with the latest myGnews

LGBT professionals, LGBT Graduates, LGBT professional network, LGBT professional events, LGBT networking events, LGBT Recruitment, LGBT Friendly organisations, LGBT Friendly companies, LGBT jobs