BOSTON, Massachusetts, Feb 25 (AFP) - The physicians who found a rare and virulent strain of the AIDS virus in a New York patient defended their decision to alert New York health authorities about the threat.
Branded an alarmist by some scientists and the homosexual community, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Laboratory director David Ho, said the findings of his team of researchers justified raising the alarm.
"I think we have a unique convergence of a very drug-resistant virus, and this infection was very, very rapid," he said referring to a 45-year-old homosexual patient. "And this man has many, many sexual partners," he told the 12th Retrovirus Conference here on Thursday.
The AIDS case was first reported on February 11 by New York's public health commissioner.
Conference organizers invited Ho to present the latest conclusions of his researchers to some 3,800 AIDS experts from around the world.
Ho said the newly discovered AIDS virus was a very rare strain even for the Los Alamos laboratory, which has gathered data of the gene sequences of all known AIDS viruses.
Although he is still unsure whether the new HIV strain is an isolated case or not, Ho insisted it was right to notify New York health authorities of the finding.
While drug-resistant strains of the HIV virus are often less infectious than those that respond well to drugs, Ho said this may not be the case with the new virus.
The fact that the virus replicated well in the laboratory, he said, was "worrisome".
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