This archive report was first published on 7 November 2019.
On November 7, 2019, a breakthrough in HIV research was announced by a US healthcare company, Abbott Laboratories.
Using cutting-edge genome sequencing technology, the company identified a new subtype of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), known as HIV-1 Group M subtype L.
The strain was found in three individuals from blood samples taken between the 1980s and 2001, all from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to guidelines issued in 2000, a new subtype must be identified in at least three independent cases to be classified.
Group M is the most prevalent form of the HIV-1 virus, and subtype L is the 10th subtype within this group, the first to be identified since the guidelines were issued.
Antiretroviral drugs have generally been effective against various subtypes of HIV, but there is some evidence of subtype differences in drug resistance.
"Since subtype L is part of the major group of HIV, Group M, I would expect current treatments to work with it," said Mary Rodgers, a principal scientist and head of the Global Viral Surveillance Program at Abbott Laboratories.
Abbott is making the sequence available to the research community to evaluate its impact on diagnostic testing, treatments, and potential vaccines.
"In an increasingly connected world, we can no longer think of viruses being contained to one location," added Carole McArthur, a professor of oral and craniofacial sciences at the University of Missouri Kansas City.
