There is not only the coronavirus and the Covid-19 pandemic. There is another pandemic, that of AIDS, and to date the HIV virus is still elusive and little known in many respects. Now a research conducted by two specialists from the Indian Institute of Science goes back to the ways of transmission of the pathogen and finds that when the passage occurs from man to woman through the penetration of the penis into the vagina, the associated infections could be even more aggressive than in the contagion through anal sex. This element is new and could have implications for the study of the development of the disease. However, the analysis is still preliminary and the results are limited, as specified by the same authors, who published the work on Plos Pathogens.
Longform
Hiv, waiting for the vaccine is the long-lasting injection
by Davide Michielin
When the infection is more aggressive
The authors analyzed the data of 340 thousand people infected with HIV-1 (the main cause of these infections), of various ethnicities and from 25 different countries. The examination focused on the degree of virulence, or the ability of the virus to take root and cause more serious damage. The evaluation consisted of a blood test carried out early, after infection, to test the level of T lymphocytes (or T cells), which play a central role in the immune response and in this case in infection. This method, the researchers explain, provides a possible estimate of its severity: the greater the decrease in T lymphocytes, the more severe the current form is. According to the data, the decrease in T cells is more marked in people who contracted the virus through vaginal sex than in those who got it after anal intercourse.
Sexual infections, we learn to prevent them especially in the summer
by Tina Simoniello
The result is yet to be confirmed
“Although conducted on a large sample, the study is still very early,” he comments Stefano Vellainfectious disease specialist and lecturer in Global Health at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome – who has been dealing with HIV for decades, but who is not involved in today’s work, “and it is difficult to deduce, on the basis of these data, that transmission via vaginal intercourse is actually linked to more aggressive and severe forms “.
Hiv, after Covid we start again. From the difficulties of the sick
According to Vella it is necessary to deepen the results through other research and excluding any confounding elements. “The evaluation carried out of T cells after infection does not provide information on the subsequent trend”, adds the expert, “and therefore in my opinion does not allow us to draw conclusions on the aggressiveness of one type of infection rather than another”.
Brain tumors: HIV drugs tested
by Tina Simoniello
Aids: over 6,200 calls to the toll-free number of the Higher Institute of Health in 2021
A possible explanation
In any case, the research reopens the debate on a mechanism by which HIV spreads and evolves over time on the basis of the different transmission channels. Somehow the viruses become more and more “intelligent” and resistant. In particular, there is an effect called “bottleneck” – in Italian bottleneck – whereby when a contagion occurs from one person to another, the pathogen, which must “pass” into this bottleneck, gradually becomes more and more selected. The virus thus becomes less diverse and some previously present viral forms are lost.
AIDS killed one child every 5 minutes in 2020
by Valeria Pini
Within this framework it must be considered that the anal mucosa is more permeable and is more easily attacked by HIV, while the vaginal mucosa, due to its characteristics, is more resilient, from this point of view. “This is why the authors’ hypothesis is that in vaginal intercourse the bottleneck phenomenon, already known in medicine, is more stringent – says Vella – and ensures that only the viral forms with a fitness (i.e. a capacity to infect) higher, more performing. Therefore, potentially, according to what was stated in the study, it would be even more aggressive forms “. While in anal intercourse, where the mucosa is more fragile, the virus has more free field and even the less performing pathogens would pass anyway.
AIDS killed one child every 5 minutes in 2020
by Valeria Pini