A rare type of HIV has now reached France, it was revealed today.
The spread of the chimpanzee virus has caused alarm – as its effects are worse than other kinds of HIV.
The HIV is known as a group N virus and is said to be more like a chimpanzee virus than existing human viruses. It has so far only been found in Cameroon.
It has been found in a man who had recently travelled to the African country of Togo and had undertaken sexual activity there with a local person.
The man of 57 needed emergency treatment in Paris eight days after his return to France.
The doctors, at the Hôpital Saint Louis, Paris, say they were "surprised" to find a virus which did not match existing kinds of HIV.
They warn that the virus is "particularly" important because of its severe symptoms and rapid decline in immune system CD4 cells.
They used a five-drug combination to treatment the man with some success – but say that close follow-up of the man will be needed.
Writing in The Lancet, Professor François Simon, of the French research centre INSERM, says: "This case of HIV-1 group-N primary infection indicates that this rare group is now circulating outside Cameroon, which emphasises the need for rigorous HIV epidemiological monitoring."
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