Vacation from Togo Affected Rare HIV

Vacation from Togo Affected Rare HIV - A French man was detected positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) after a vacation and having sex with local women in Togo West Africa. Even more heartbreaking was experiencing HIV is a rare type of HIV-1 strains of HIV type-N which makes her immune to drop dramatically in a short time.

Initially, 57-year-old patient came to Saint Louis Hospital in Paris in January 2011 with fever, rash, swollen lymph glands, and ulceration (inflammation of the surface) genitals.

Doctors who treat viral infections found diagnoses of HIV type-1, but when tested strains of the type of virus is not like a virus that generally has a strain of M. After repeated trials found that patients with HIV strains of N which is a rare strain of HIV.



This rare virus strain previously only found among some residents of Cameroon which later spread beyond the West African country. This type of virus called HIV strain N was first discovered in 1998 in a Cameroonian woman.

Since then, more than 12,000 HIV-infected patients in Cameroon has been tested for HIV infection discovered this strain N, but only 12 cases have ever been found with HIV strains of N.

These patients had undetectable HIV viral rare after on February 9, suffered facial paralysis. Team of French doctors then perform tests on blood samples of patients and found that the test reacts to antibodies of HIV strains N.

This patient had previously been to Togo. The researchers then sure that the infection was acquired due to sexual relations with a partner in Togo.

"The case of primary infection with HIV-1-N strains showed that this rare strain of HIV has now spread beyond Cameroon. That is, there should be strict monitoring of the spread of HIV," said team doctor, Professor Francois Simon, as reported by Health24.com, Monday (11/28/2011).

Patients suffering from HIV infection strains of N not only experience some symptoms of HIV infection, but also experienced a drastic decline in their immune system. N strains of HIV could be transmitted to humans through chimpanzees, may also through eating meat that had been infected with HIV from chimpanzees.

Strain N is one of the four viruses that enter the family of HIV-1 virus. Other strains are the most common M and O strains, and strains of P. P strains are very rare, just as strain O and N.

According to a study published in 2009, allegedly with the HIV virus strains have been transmitted from gorillas to humans.

Currently, the HIV virus is the most common HIV strain M that consists of 10 sub-type virus. Virus strains O, P, and N itself is still not clearly known characteristics.

In addition, there is also a family of viruses called the minority of HIV-2. This species is also thought to be transmitted to humans from primates.