2015-06-28

Two New Forms of HIV Emerge; MERS in South Korea

A new strain has also emerged in China. Deadly new HIV strain found in Myanmar truck driver near Chinese border
The most sophisticated, and deadly, form of the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) to ever surface has been discovered in the body of a long haul truck driver who regularly travelled the border area between China and Myanmar, according to a new study by Chinese scientists.

The strain of the virus, which can lead to AIDS, carried 14 points of mutation throughout its genome, more than any other strain isolated so far, they reported in the latest issue of the journal AIDS Research and Human Retro Viruses.

The mutations occurred when different types of the virus recombined with one another in the host, the team found.

The large number of mutations suggested the driver may have engaged in unprotected sex on a regular basis, and acquired many viral subspecies from a large number of HIV-infected prostitutes, they reported.
Disease outbreaks are associated with negative social mood. HIV infection rates soared in Greece after the debt crisis began in 2010.

Quartz: Greece’s 200% increase in HIV shows how disastrous austerity can be for public health. I covered this a couple years ago: Negative social mood and disease: HIV, malaria and TB breakout in Greece

Cuba has also seen a new virus emerge. Since the country opened up a few years ago, it become a popular sex tourism destination. This has brought different strains of the AIDS virus from around the globe, where they have mixed into a new super strain.

RT: Aggressive HIV strain leading to AIDS in 3 years discovered in Cuba
A “much more aggressive than others” strain of HIV have been discovered by an international team of researchers in patients in Cuba. It can progress to AIDS in just three years, sometimes even before patients realize they were infected.

The new strain was found by researchers at KU Leuven’s Laboratory for Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, based in Belgium.

They took blood results from 73 recently infected patients – 52 of them diagnosed with AIDS, and 22 patients, who progressed to the disease after a normal long period of being infected with HIV, that’s estimated to be in between 5 and 10 years.

The scientists thus discovered a new faster-progressing strain of HIV, that’s in fact a combination of three subtypes of the virus.
In South Korea, the MERS virus is slowing. MERS death toll in South Korea rises to 32
A 55-year-old man died yesterday of Middle East Respiratory Disease, the health ministry said, putting the latest mortality rate at 17.5%.

That is up from 15% a week ago and 10% two weeks ago, though still lower than World Health Organisation figures which put the mortality rate for the disease at around 36%.

The man was diagnosed on 9 June after contracting the virus at Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul - where about 90 patients, visitors and medical staff had been infected.

The total number of infections remained unchanged at 182 and 15 patients were in critical condition, the health ministry said.
The MERS virus emerged in the Middle East, which has seen increasingly negative social mood over the past few years.

The major outbreaks don't typically occur until the end of the bear market. The new strains of AIDS and diseases such as MERS are potential candidates for the next big outbreak.

A Socionomic Study of Epidemic Disease
Also: Negative Mood Sickens Society

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