HIV virus is mutating in India: Study

The HIV-AIDS laboratory at the Bangalore-based Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) has in a research study found that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type I (HIV-1) has been undergoing a process of viral evolution in India over the past decade and possibly in other parts of the world, too. Scientists found the emergence and expansion of 5 new strains of HIV-1 rapidly replacing the standard viral strain.

The study raises several questions with serious implications for the viral fitness, evolution and disease management. The most important of all the concerns is the possibility of the new HIV strains altering the landscape of the HIV demographics in India.

Interestingly, according to the UNAIDS Global Report 2010, the rate of viral expansion had slowed or even declined in several global regions, including India. But the new findings may well invite a rethink on how HIV/AIDS might be moving in for another kill in the time to come.