3-DCR XSD and 3-DCR NYC HIV Very Similar But Distinct
Recombinomics Commentary
February 19, 2005
>> A strain of HIV with a very similar, although not identical, genetic profile as the one in New York was recently found in the archive of a national AIDS testing lab in California. The strain was originally reported to have come from a patient in San Diego.
Yesterday, however, San Diego County's public health officer, Nancy Bowen, said further research showed the patient was not from her area and she did not know where the patient was. New York City health officials have asked the commercial lab to help trace the source of that sample. <<
The failure to match HIV from NYC (3-DCR NYC) with the HIV from the patient originally thought to be from San Diego (3-DCR XSD) suggests that the two viruses are both rare and independent, which is not a good indicator. Both samples were collected in the fall, so the lack of a match would suggest there was not contact between the two patients.
The presence of two distinct genotypes, which have the unusual combination of 3-DCR, CXCR4 tropism, and a wild type RC, is cause for further concern.
Media link