HIV Spreads Like 'Computer Worms', Study

HIV spreads like computer worms, so speedy treatment may be the key to fix it fast, according to HIV specialists and network security experts at University College London.

Spreading through the bloodstream as well as between cells, is rather like computer worms spreading through the Internet as well as local networks, and may infect many computers.

To study and draft the progress from HIV to AIDS, a new model for HIV progression has been made.

Collecting intensive sample data from 17 HIV patients in London has shown that hybrid spreading is reflected by the model, and could be treated by early treatment.

"HIV infected CD4+ T-cells, which played a vital role in the immune system and protected people from diseases. With its progression, HIV reduced the number of active T-cells in the body, until the immune system could not function correctly, a state known as 'acquired immune deficiency syndrome' or AIDS," according to dna.

Hence, treatment should be speedy, in order to prevent its long-term spread.

Lead author Changwang Zhang, of UCL, has said: "HIV and Conficker have a lot in common. They both use hybrid spreading mechanisms, persist for a very long time and are incredibly difficult to eradicate. Our model enables us to explain these important properties and to predict the infection process," according to dailymail.

However, Professor Benny Chain, co-senior author at UCL Infection and Immunity explains that the number of HIV cells in the bloodstream is "always relatively low, and their model showed that HIV spreading through the bloodstream alone was not enough to cause AIDS."

He adds that if HIV has already crept into a region that is rich in T-cells by the time the curing starts, just preventing the spread through the blood would be tough, and cannot stop AIDS. The model seems to indicate that "completely blocking cell-to-cell transfer would prevent progression to AIDS, highlighting the need to develop new treatments."