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Taiwanese `AIDS storm' looms: health officials

A new strain of HIV from China has crept into Taiwan via intravenous drug users over the past three years, sounding alarm bells with health authorities that the mutated virus could trigger an HIV/AIDS wildfire.

Researchers at the AIDS Research and Prevention Center at National Yang Ming University discovered the HIV strain CRF07-BC -- commonly seen in China -- has significantly quickened its speed among Taiwanese drug users.

"The new strain may reshape the face of AIDS in Taiwan," the center's director, Chen Yi-ming (陳宜民), said.

"Before, there were three HIV virus strains in Taiwan -- subtype B and a recombinant virus of subtype A and subtype E. The CRF07-BC strain we found in prisons recently, however, is a recombinant form of subtype B and subtype C," Chen said.

"HIV's subtype C has not been seen in Taiwan before," he said, adding, "this means that the HIV virus, whose genome sequence contains the subtype C, may render our AIDS treatment ineffective."

Whether the new strain will undercut the efficacy of anti-retroviral therapy or reinforce the virus' drug resistance is still unknown. The research team is now looking into the strain's capacity for drug resistance.

Chen inferred that Taiwanese drug users may have contracted the virus during travels in Yunnan Province.

"It's an open secret that drug trafficking is rampant in Yunnan. It is also common for Taiwanese to fly to Yunnan via Hong Kong," he said.

The CRF07-BC strain is found in Yunnan Province, and hinterland provinces like Xinjiang and Gansu, according to the center.

In 2002, the center announced the first case of drug user infected with the virus variant in a prison in Tainan.

Since then, the variant virus has preyed on intravenous drug users with alarming speed. As of last year, 93 percent of the 173 known drug users in three detention centers in Taipei, Tainan and Nantou counties were afflicted with the new virus.

The new virus appears to be more transmissible than the other HIV viruses, researchers said.

"CRF07-BC is characterized by higher transmission efficiency among drug users. We didn't spot any signs of the spread of HIV's subtype B or the recombinant form of subtype A and subtype E in this group," Chen said.

Researchers wary that the new HIV virus will spread beyond the risk group if measures to safeguard the public are not untaken immediately.

"It won't take long for the new virus to make inroads into sex workers and families. Once this occurs, an AIDS storm will erupt," Chen said.

There were signs that this has already taken place, Chen said. A few months ago, an AIDS baby was born at National Taiwan University Hospital. The baby got the disease from its father, who gave the virus to his wife and their newborn son.

"If the government fails to respond promptly, the consequences will be grave," Chen said.

Drug abuse has emerged as the driving force behind AIDS' spread in recent years. Statistics from the Center for Disease Control showed that there were 544 intravenous drug users infected with HIV last year alone, a staggering seven-fold jump compared with 2003 figures. Last month, 111 drug users were found to be HIV positive, accounting for nearly 80 percent of all known infection routes.

Other routes of infection also play vital roles in the AIDS outbreak scenario. Echoing the university's findings, health officials said that AIDS in China has crept across the Strait through other routes like the sex trade or arranged marriages.

"The percentage of Mainlanders living in Taiwan who are HIV positive has increased," CDC deputy director Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said.

According to Chou, the number of HIV positive Mainlanders living in Taiwan rose from 3 in 2002 to 14 last year.

"Most of them are illegal immigrants. Chinese women may contract the virus through sex in China and men through sex or needle-sharing there," Chou said.

The CDC has tried to rein in AIDS spread among drug users through education programs.
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