How often spreads HIV, the virus that causes AIDS

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, spreads in the body after the same pattern for computer viruses that infect computers, say the authors of a recent study that the detection of infection in an early stage is key in treating this disease.

A new theoretical model describing the spread of HIV in the body indicates that this virus spreads followed a pattern similar to certain viruses, reports dailymail.co.uk. HIV specialists and computer security experts from University College London (UCL) made this discovery after having created a computer simulation model.

They created together a model of "spreading hybrid", which predicted with high accuracy from the stage of evolution of patients 'HIV' to the stage of "AIDS" in a large clinical trial. According to these experts, detection of infection in an early stage is a key element in treating the disease.

Researchers have noted that HIV is spread in the body using two methods - by the blood stream directly between cells. Viruses use the same methods to spread, both on the Internet and local networks to infect as many computers.

The theoretical model was inspired by similarities presented by HIV and extremely damaging a computer virus called "Conficker", first detected in 2008, which infected military and police computer networks in Europe and is currently active .

Changwang Zhang, a researcher at UCL and led the study, said: "HIV and Conficker have many things in common. Both use hybrid mechanisms of spread, persists for a long time and are incredibly hard to eradicate. Our theoretical model allows us to better explain these important properties and helps us anticipate the infection process easier. "

Professor Shi Zhou, another author of the study, added: "Although specialists organized community cyberspace unprecedented collaboration to stop Conficker, they failed in their attempt to remove Conficker from the internet. Researchers against HIV facing a similar problem. We hope that our new hybrid study of epidemics will help us to fight more effectively against Conficker and HIV ".

Detailed analyzes performed on blood samples collected from 17 patients infected with HIV in London were used to check the validity of this theoretical model. They have shown that the spread of hybrid is the best explanation for the progression of HIV in the body and highlighted the benefits of treatment administered in the early stages of infection.

HIV infects T cells, which play a vital role in the functioning of the immune system protects the body from disease. As HIV progresses, the virus reduces the number of activated T cells in the body until the immune system can no longer function properly - a stage known as "acquired immunodeficiency syndrome" or AIDS.

World Health Organization (WHO) currently on HIV treatment begin when the number of T cells in the bloodstream falls below a certain level.

Instead, the new theoretical model determined the creators of stating that the treatment should start as soon after infection, to prevent long-term transformation of HIV infection in a patient diagnosed cases of AIDS.

Source: mediafax

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