New HIV (VB) variant is 4x more transmissible, and results in AIDS 2x earlier. Viruses DON’T always evolve to become milder.
Joel Wertheim, an evolutionary virologist at the University of California San Diego, who wasn't involved within the study, said HIV was tending to diminish virulent in Uganda and more virulent within the US. The biological reasons for these changes are unknown.
Excerpts:
People infected with the VB variant, because it is understood, have a mean viral load that's about fourfold over is common for HIV infection and their system declines twice as fast, placing them in danger of developing Aids more quickly.
But the researchers said the invention was a timely warning within the light of the present debate about the way Sars-Cov-2, the virus causing Covid-19, was likely to evolve.
A lot of individuals are commenting that Sars-Cov-2 will evolve to become milder because that’s just what viruses do and it’s not within the virus’s interest to kill us off,” said Wymant.
“What we actually need is more samples of what viruses liquidate the world — and that we see it go into both directions, becoming more virulent and fewer virulent. So it certainly shouldn’t be taken with no consideration that Sars-Cov-2 will simply become milder.
The analysis doesn't show how the VB variant originated, but the researchers believe it's likely to own evolved within a private who suffered a bizarrely long HIV infection because genetic analysis turned up no intermediate steps in viral evolution. the identical mechanism has been proposed for the origin of Sars-Cov-2 variants, including Omicron.
Joel Wertheim, an evolutionary virologist at the University of California San Diego, who wasn't involved within the study, said HIV was tending to recede virulent in Uganda and more virulent within the US. The biological reasons for these changes are unknown.