Aids-Causing Virus Shows New Potency, Study Finds

Italian researchers who studied 208 men and 77 women infected with HIV believe the AIDS-causing virus may be growing more aggressive.

“The emergence of more virulent strains due to multiple biological mechanisms may be responsible for the more aggressive course of HIV disease in patients who have recently seroconverted,” the team reported.

Seroconversion is the process in which the body develops antibodies to HIV, usually within two weeks of infection.

The report by Allessandro Sinicco and six colleagues at the University of Turin appears in the current issue of the British Medical Journal, copies of which were available Friday. Sinicco is the university’s senior lecturer in infectious diseases.

“Our findings suggest possible changes in the course of HIV epidemic in the 1990s and raise intriguing issues on the course of HIV infection,” their report said.

“If our data are confirmed, therapeutic approaches to the infection will need to be reviewed,” it said. “If HIV disease has become more aggressive, more frequent screening would be essential to identify patients who have just seroconverted and could benefit from early antiretroviral treatment.”