More Deadly HIV Strain Found in Thailand

An HIV subtype commonly found in Thailand leads to even shorter life expectancies for people with the disease according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. HIV subtype E, the most prevalent HIV strain in Thailand, decreases average life expectancy by more than three years for people diagnosed with the virus.

The study focused on 228 men in the Thai military during a 14 year period beginning in 1991. The researchers tested the men for HIV every six months to find out when they contracted HIV. All men were HIV-negative when they began the study.

The data was then compared to similar HIV data collected by researchers study HIV positive men who lived in Europe and North America. For the HIV positive men living in North American and Europe, the age of survival was 11 years, compared to only 7.8 years for the Thai men.

Thai men were also more likely to have a shorter life expectancy than men living in Africa who were diagnosed with HIV.

"We were surprised to learn that the young military recruits from Thailand appeared to develop AIDS more quickly and have shorter survival after their HIV infection than persons in Africa who were carefully followed," said lead author Ram Rangsin, assistant professor of Community and Military Medicine at Phramongkutklao College of Medicine in Bangkok, who conducted the research while studying at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Fortunately, the men who have survived after their infection are now receiving treatment with effective antiviral drugs and doing very well."

Only the survival rate of people with the subtype D in Africa were comparable to the survival rate for those with subtype E in Thailand. In another study, men and women followed blood donors who had contracted HIV. This study confirmed that the life expectancy for both Thai men and women was significantly lower than the life expectancy in other countries.

"The fact that both young military conscripts and blood donors and their wives in Thailand had similarly shortened survival compared to persons in the U.S. and Africa-except those infected with subtype D viruses-suggests that viral subtypes D and E may be more virulent than many other viral subtypes," said Kenrad E. Nelson, MD, a senior author of both studies and professor in the departments of Epidemiology and International Health at the Bloomberg School. "If we could understand better the virulence characteristics of these viruses, we might learn something more about why those with HIV infection progress to AIDS, usually many years after they are infected." Source:

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, "Studies Suggest HIV Subtype More Deadly Than Others" Eurekalert