In the publication of the journal Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, the researchers reveal that they found four records of the recombinant virus in the states of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul.

So far, no infections by this variant have been recorded anywhere else.

According to the study, the new variant combines genes from HIV subtypes B and C, predominant in Brazil, which is why it is called recombinant virus.

“What is striking for the emergence of these recombinant forms is the double infection rate. Individuals are contaminating and recontaminating,” biologist Joana Paixão Monteiro-Cunha, co-author of the research, warned.

She explained that for variants like the one reported in the study to emerge, it is necessary for two subtypes to be found in the same host organism and reproduce, mixing genetic characteristics of both.

According to Paixão Monteiro-Cunha, recombinant viruses can be unique when they are found in a single individual that has undergone reinfection or they can be viable or circulating when they become transmissible versions. This is the case of the new variant discovered, baptized CRF146_BC.

The recombinant virus was discovered in 2019, during a population study in which researchers, including Paixão Monteiro-Cunha, analyzed about 200 samples from infected patients treated at the Hospital das Clínicas in Salvador, capital of Bahia.

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