Feb. 17 -- After the appearance of an especially powerful and drug-resistant strain of AIDS in a New York City man, on Monday, health officials in San Diego County, Calif., US announced they were looking for a man recently diagnosed with HIV who appears to harbor a strain similar to that found in the New York man.  | | After the appearance of an especially powerful and drug-resistant strain of AIDS in a New York City man, on Monday, health officials in San Diego County, Calif., US announced they were looking for a man recently diagnosed with HIV who appears to harbor a strain similar to that found in the New York man. |
It's not clear if the two men are connected in any way.According to the experts, the unidentified San Diego man is much possible vulnerable to HIV. And if he has a normal immune system, he is now home to an especially powerful and drug-resistant strain of AIDS -- and one that may already have spread to other people. Many AIDS specialists believe the headline-grabbing case of the New York patient will result in findings indicating something about his immune system left him vulnerable to quick infection by a rather ordinary strain of HIV. The other alternative -- a new, drug-resistant strain of HIV -- is "quite scary," said Dr. Joseph Baran, an AIDS specialist at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista, Calif., according to the local reports. Details was again released about the NY man. He's in his mid-40s, he used the street drug crystal methamphetamine, and he had unprotected anal sex with multiple male partners. Tests suggest -- but don't confirm -- that he was infected with HIV in October and then diagnosed with full-blown AIDS within months. The case diagnosed in New York last week involved a man in his 40s whose infection was resistant to 19 of 20 new AIDS drugs. The man told authorities he used drugs and has slept with hundreds of men Typically, it takes an average of about 10 years for someone to be stricken with AIDS after infection with HIV. In the New York City man's case, full-blown AIDS appeared in a matter of weeks, not years.
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