USA: US warns of new drug-resistant HIV strain

United States officials say a new strain of the AIDS virus that is drug-resistant and also causes a quick onset of the disease has been discovered in New York, prompting an alert to city health providers.

Officials say use of the illegal drug crystal methamphetamine was probably a contributing factor in transmission of the virus, which infected an unidentified man in his 40s who had multiple male partners and unprotected anal sex.

The New York Times quoted two other AIDS specialists as saying the case, discovered on January 21, may have been an isolated incident.

But Dr Thomas Frieden, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, called the case a potential major problem and issued an alert to hospitals and doctors to test for evidence of the strain of HIV.

Officials say it is the first time in New York that a strain of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has been diagnosed that is both highly resistant to major anti-AIDS drugs and progressed rapidly.

"It's a wake-up call to men who have sex with men, particularly those who may use crystal methamphetamine," Dr Frieden said in a statement on the department's website.

Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant often used in conjunction with sex.

- Reuters

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/amphetablog.html
Pubdate: Sunday, 13 February 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation