People infected with HIV might well want to know who gave it to them 鈥� but the genetic sequence of their virus won鈥檛 tell them.
The virus is now routinely sequenced in each infected person to uncover drug-resistance genes, but virus sequences have also been used in several high-profile court cases by lawyers seeking to show who infected whom. This has led some HIV carriers to wonder if they might be able to do the same.
鈥淗IV sequences have been used by lawyers seeking to show who infected whom鈥�
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鈥淭he data won鈥檛 work for that,鈥� warns Deenan Pillay of University College London 鈥� because HIV evolves too fast. This means that even though the viruses from two people may look similar, other local viruses may even be more alike. Analysing them can鈥檛 show whether A infected B or vice versa, whether it went through a third person or whether both were infected by another person (BMJ, ).
However, the British database 鈥� now the world鈥檚 largest collection of viral sequences from a national epidemic 鈥� could answer other important questions. For example, it could tell us whether certain strains tend to spread among certain risk groups, or where the super-spreaders of HIV are.
HIV and AIDS 鈥� Learn more about the worst pandemic in human history in our continuously updated special report.
