Super AIDS

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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Subtypes of HIV. (Discuss)

"Super AIDS" is an informal term used by some sources^{[citation needed]} for a strain of the human immunodeficiency virus that arose in New York City in 2005.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The phrase "Super AIDS" is not used in formal contexts, but it was used in the South Park episode The Death of Eric Cartman.^[4]^[5]

[edit] HIV infection

Typically, the "wild" type of HIV (the strain of HIV found in individuals not treated with Antiretroviral drugs) is much more effective at attacking the human immune system than the types that evolve in the presence of antiretroviral drugs. Thus, by changing the selection pressure (from being infection driving to being drug-avoidance driven) retroviral drug treatment causes HIV to evolve to a more-innocuous form, less efficient at infecting T-cells.

Super AIDS, however, was a strain that was not only resistant to anti-retroviral drugs, but it was more effective than "wild" HIV at infecting T-cells.

The strain retained vulnerability to enfuvirtide.^[6]

[edit] References

^ "Investigation of a new diagnosis of multidrug-resistant, dual-tropic HIV-1 infection--New York City, 2005" (July 2006). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 55 (29): 793–6. PMID 16874293.
^ Blick G, Kagan RM, Coakley E, et al (May 2007). "The probable source of both the primary multidrug-resistant (MDR) HIV-1 strain found in a patient with rapid progression to AIDS and a second recombinant MDR strain found in a chronically HIV-1-infected patient". J. Infect. Dis. 195 (9): 1250–9. doi:10.1086/512240. PMID 17396993.
^ Markowitz M, Mohri H, Mehandru S, et al (2005). "Infection with multidrug resistant, dual-tropic HIV-1 and rapid progression to AIDS: a case report". Lancet 365 (9464): 1031–8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71139-9. PMID 15781098.
^ South Park: The Death of Eric Cartman - TV.com.
^ Super-AIDS - Clips - South Park Studios.
^ Bloomberg.com: U.S..