Scientists
studying the genetic history of HIV have found evidence that
the strain of the virus that affects people in the U.S. was
present in Haiti as far back as the middle of the last
century.
Scientists
studying the genetic history of HIV have found evidence that
the strain of the virus that affects people in many
countries, including the United States, was present in
Haiti as far back as the middle of the last century.
The study,
published in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, is not likely to lead to new treatments
but could help researchers as they try to develop a vaccine.
According to a report published on the U.S. News
and World Report Web site, the coauthor of the
study, Michael Worobey, believes this data could hold
important clues. "It matters when these events
occurred and how often colonizations of new locales occur.
That helps us predict the future complexity of the HIV
pandemic."
The research is
also giving scientists insight into how the virus
traveled to the United States by studying blood samples
of Haitian immigrants to this country.
"For the last few
years we've been thinking it would be good to try to
collect and analyze as many archival human samples as
possible," Worobey said. "We can travel back in time
and look directly at the viruses that were circulating
at early time points."
They believe that
the strain of HIV they found moved from Africa to Haiti
in the mid 1960s and then on to the U.S. in about 1969.
(The Advocate)
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