Health officials say they have identified several people who might be carrying the rare multidrug-resistant strain of HIV first reported in a New York City man in February. City health officials would not say how many cases had been identified but note it could take months to determine if the newly identified infections are related to the first case.
A doctor in Connecticut, however, reported in March having a patient whose HIV infection seemed genetically linked to that of the New York man. Both men reportedly had unprotected sex in the fall of 2004.
The New York man was shown to carry HIV that was resistant to nearly every available anti-HIV drug; he rapidly progressed to an AIDS diagnosis, perhaps within just a few months. A study in the March 19 edition of the journal The Lancet shows the man's HIV strain to be able to latch on to two key cellular receptors. This enables it to more easily attach to and infect immune system cells.
