Korean scientists discover new strain of HIV

Korean scientists have discovered a new form of the AIDS virus that has a far different structure than previously seen.

Choi Kang-Won and Oh Myong-Don, internal medicine professors at Seoul National University Hospital, announced Sunday that the two teams confirmed jointly that the HIV in the blood of a 33-year-old woman who died of AIDS in 1997 and the HIV found in the blood of an AIDS patient from Cyprus by a research team at Alabama University was completely new.

The research team at Alabama University is one of the world`s best AIDS research teams, having discovered that HIV originated from a monkey. Dr. Gao Pong of this research team and Prof. Oh will announce the details of the discovery at the U.S. AIDS Institute in Chicago Monday, in an AIDS research paper to be issued in the near future and in Human Retrovirus, a scientific journal.

Prof. Choi said that HIV is divided into two strains. The first strain, which is more common, has 9 different variations. He also explained that a form of HIV is designated as a new type if its gene sequence differs by more than 10% from those previously discovered. The new virus is 16% different from the A type and more than 20% from the B type.

Prof. Oh noted that the B type HIV is prevalent at the moment. The possibility of diverse types of HIV appearing in Korea was shown clearly thanks to this discovery, he said.

Lee Sung-Joo stein33@donga.com