Highly virulent HIV variant found circulating in Europe
▻https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00317-x
The findings, published in Science on 3 February1, also serve as a reminder that viruses do not always evolve to become less virulent over time. Reports that infections with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 tend to cause mild COVID-19 symptoms have fuelled the narrative that the virus is becoming less deadly. “This is not how it works”, says Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Bern. Although HIV and SARS-CoV-2 are different in many ways, “it’s not a given that SARS-CoV-2 will become milder,” Hodcroft says.