claim: Highly infectious HIV 'VB' variant makes people ill twice as quickly
evidence: A team of UK researchers has discovered that the VB variant of HIV may be more virulent and damaging than other strains of the disease. [...] By examining the genetic mutation patterns in the samples, the team estimated that the VB variant first appeared in the late 1980s and 1990s in the Netherlands, spreading more rapidly than other HIV variants during the 2000s before declining since around 2010. Despite there being widespread treatment in the country for HIV, the strain still spread across the nation quickly. [...] Analysis from the University of Oxford team identified that people infected with the VB variant had notable differences before antiretroviral treatment than people infected with other strains. VB variant patients had a viral load between 3.5 and 5.5 times higher, CD4 cell decline (damage to the immune system caused by HIV) was also twice as fast, increasing the risk of developing AIDS earlier. Finally, individuals with the VB variant showed an increased risk of transmitting the virus to others.