UNAIDS stresses need to curb HIV after discovering new, contagious variant

According to United Nations Committee on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a more contagious form of HIV/AIDS was discovered in the Netherlands on February 7, implying an urgent need for all HIV patients to be screened and treated.

Nearly 10 million people do not have antiretroviral treatment, UNAIDS stated in a press statement released on Monday.

“People living with this variant experience a twice as high rate of immune system decline (CD4 count),” UNAIDS further added.

People infected with this variant have a higher viral load of HIV After diagnosis, they are more likely to develop AIDS two to three times faster than if they were living with other strains of the virus.

Researchers from Oxford University’s Big Data Institute conducted a study that indicates that the new strain, the VB virus, destroys white blood cells, a major component of the immune system, twice as fast as the non-VB variant, the press release states.

Although this new variant does not pose a major threat to public health, it underlines the urgency of accelerating efforts to stem the HIV epidemic.

“We urgently need to deploy cutting-edge medical innovations in ways that reach the communities that need them most. From HIV treatment to Covid-19 vaccines, inequities in access perpetuate pandemics in ways that harm us all,” Eamonn Murphy, regional Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS in Asia and Pacific, said in the press release.

“Ten million people living with HIV worldwide are not yet on treatment, fueling the continued spread of the contagious virus and the potential for new variants,” he explained further.

The UN states that HIV remains the deadliest pandemic of this era, with an estimated 79 million people infected with the virus, for which there is no vaccine or cure.

Some 36 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the pandemic and 1.5 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2020. Of the 38 million people living with HIV today, 28 million are on life-saving antiretroviral therapy, which keeps them alive and healthy and prevents transmission of the virus, the press release concludes.