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HIV

Roland S. Martin of News One reported that a strain of HIV that could develop into AIDS before patients realize they are infected has been identified in Cuba.

The aggressive variant was seen in patients who developed AIDS within three years of contacting the virus, according to a new study. It usually takes five to 10 years.

“This group of patients that progressed very fast, they were all recently infected,” lead researcher Anne-Mieke Vandamme told Voice of America. “We know that because they had been HIV-negative tested one or a maximum two years before.”

HIV develops into AIDS when a person’s CD4 count, which reflects white blood cells, falls below 200 or the patient gets a disease that wouldn’t affect someone with a healthy immune system.