Scientists at US-based drug firm Abbot Laboratories have announced the discovery of a new strain of HIV–the first new strain of the disease in almost 20 years.
Mary Rodgers, a lead researcher on the project, cautions the public not to panic over the discovery. Numerous strains of the virus already circulate within the public, and the newest strain, called HIV-1 Group M, subtype L, is extremely rare. That said, the discovery should serve as a cautionary reminder.
“We can never become complacent, we need to be proactive and we’re working to stay a step ahead of the virus,” Rodgers explained to the Chicago Tribune. “To prevent new infections we have to understand how they have spread in the past.”
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Researchers actually encountered the new strain in the 1980s in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Scientists at the time realized they had found two samples of the variant, but needed at least one more sample of the virus to declare it a new strain. That sample turned up in 2001, though gene sequencing techniques could not positively identify it until 2018.
Rodgers explains: “If you think about the amount of material in a blood sample it’s like a haystack of information that you could sequence. And the HIV in that sample is just a tiny part of the sample. So we’ve literally created technology that acts like a magnet to pull out that needle in the haystack and sequence just the virus.”
Rodgers reiterates that discovery of new strains can help combat the virus as a whole, or warn of an impending pandemic. “The primary concern is that HIV might evolve to the extent that testing wouldn’t work,” she explains. “We definitely don’t work in isolation. We’re sharing this strain with the scientific community so others can work on the strain and hopefully, that can advance things like vaccines and treatments.”
frankcar1965
So if they actually found it in 1980 then it is not new! They just VERIFIED that it was new now.
sivcpzNick
Many SIVs were isolated during the work of the Special Virus Cancer Program
Hepatitis B Vaccine Development occurred at VILAB II, LEMSIP facility, Liberia.
Oral Polio Virus Vaccine Development occurred at Stanleyville, Belgian Congo. Their chimps came from Lindi Camp, nearby.
Both used chimpanzee primary cell culture; both shipped CPZ tissues to US.
US primate imports, breeding and farming increased significantly during the 1960s .
Wistar Institute and other labs curated and sold immortalized cell lines from chimpanzees.
These cells were valuable in research and vaccine production and were commonly used to grow pathogens.
As “target pathogens” were isolated from the batch “nontarget pathogens” contaminated the extract.
By 1960 a live simian contaminant was discovered by Dr. Bernice Eddy in polio vaccines.
This new pathogen called SV40 caused aggressive cancer in test animals.
It had already been administered to millions of people in the US and abroad.
Shortly after this discovery, Dr. Eddy was defunded and transferred from her role.
This coincided with the start of the Special Virus Cancer Program (SVCP).
The SVCP was threaded across academic, scientific and Defense locations.
It welcomed international visiting researchers including the USSR, Israel and Japan.
Early focus was to identify, isolate, transfer and amplify pathogens from nature (zoonotic transfer).
These mostly related to cancer (SV40), leukemia, sarcomas and lymphomas (SIV/HIV).
Two prioritized domains were the Lentivirus family and Type C viral particles.
From 1962 until 1978 projects focused on many kinds of germs and neoplasias, some of which were weaponized.
Millions were budgeted annually to these R&D projects, renamed “chemical” from “biological”.
These programs began as “dual purpose” bio warfare work with the “Special” or Secret prefix.
Peer articles demonstrate a long history of using chimpanzee cell culture in this work.
Zoonotic contamination revealed RNA (retroviral) pathogens which were cataloged carefully.
It appears HIV was the proof of concept as a “new infective microorganism” funded by HR 15090, 91st Congress.
Multiple Lots and Batches of Heptavax were produced throughout the campaign, including at the NY Blood Center.
The first public test ran from 1972-74 as a Heptavax trial in NYC; by 24 months, patient mortality was 47%.
The second wave began Oct. 1978, NYC HepB Trial, continuing in LA and then SF.
Other cities with gay communities were added to the Heptavax program even as deaths began in NYC.
CDC health workers offered “free HepB shot” at tables in saunas and bathhouses.
Some men were referred by their MD to take the Heptavax shot, thanks to CDC and STD clinic coordination.
The Reagan Library includes audio records of his cabinet laughing about the emerging epidemic.
Dr. Henry Kissinger managed PR on the illegal DOD programs dealing with these matters.
Dr. Robert Gallo, HIV co-patent holder, is featured througout the SVCP projects.
The biowarfare developer, Litton Bionetics, is Gallo’s employer during this era.