A variant of the HIV-1 subtype-B that is more infectious and virulent than previously known variants has been circulating in the Netherlands for twenty years.

HIV is a virus that, without treatment, leads to AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and causes, among other things, a large decrease in CD4+ T-cells by infecting these and other immune cells. An international research group with institutes from nine countries, including Stichting HIV Monitoring, the University of Amsterdam and the University of Oxford, shows that a new variant has been circulating in the Netherlands for about 20 years.

The researchers discovered the new variant through the BEEHIVE project, a project that connects infected individuals who are relatively certain about when they became infected (6 to 24 months after a positive test). Initially, they found seventeen individuals with the new variant, of which fifteen were from the Netherlands, one from Belgium and one from Switzerland.

To get a better picture, they analysed data from 6,706 participants in the Dutch ATHENA cohort. They found a total of 109 people with the so-called VB variant (after ‘virulent subtype-B’).