--- title: HIV/AIDS Cuba: Aggressive New Strain Causing Harm in Patients description: A recently-discovered form of HIV that develops into AIDS within two or three years of transmission has been in Cuba canonical: https://time.com/3711260/hiv-strain-cuba/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-16T20:15:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:27:35.979Z article:section: Health og:title: HIV/AIDS Cuba: Aggressive New Strain Causing Harm in Patients og:description: A recently-discovered form of HIV that develops into AIDS within two or three years of transmission has been in Cuba og:url: https://time.com/3711260/hiv-strain-cuba/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: HIV/AIDS Cuba: Aggressive New Strain Causing Harm in Patients twitter:description: A recently-discovered form of HIV that develops into AIDS within two or three years of transmission has been in Cuba twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Scientists Say Aggressive New HIV Strain Discovered in Cuba  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 16, 2015 8:15 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 16, 2015 8:15 PM UTC A recently-discovered form of HIV in Cuba has been found to progress into AIDS some three times faster than the most common strains of the virus, according to a recent [study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396415000389). The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Leuven in Belgium, followed several reports of HIV-infected people in Cuba developing AIDS in less than three years, far faster than the usual 10 years it typically takes. All patients infected with CRF19, a recently-discovered strain of the HIV virus, had higher levels of it in their body. They were also more likely to have developed AIDS within three years, the study published in the journal _EBioMedicine_ found. The researchers, who looked at 95 patients at various stages of infection, concluded that the strain must be “particularly fit.” Approximately 35 million people worldwide are living with HIV or AIDS, and nearly 40 million have died of the disease since the 1980s. Drugs exist to keep the worst effects of the disease at bay, but this new strand threatens to take a toll on patients before they realize they need treatment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3711260/hiv-strain-cuba/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3711260/hiv-strain-cuba/"},"headline":"Scientists Say Aggressive New HIV Strain Discovered in Cuba","datePublished":"2015-02-16T20:15:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:27:35.979Z","description":"Reports of people in Cuba infected by new strain developing AIDS in less than three years","url":"https://time.com/3711260/hiv-strain-cuba/","keywords":["Research","medicine","Public Health","Healthcare","Cuba topic","health","HIV/AIDS"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3711260/hiv-strain-cuba/","name":"Scientists Say Aggressive New HIV Strain Discovered in Cuba"}}]}] ```