Dr Melita Gordon: “Hopefully, improving HIV treatment across Africa will reduce the prevalence of this infection”
The emergence and spread of a deadly strain of Salmonella, Salmonella Typhimurium, in sub-Saharan Africa is linked to the HIV virus, according to researchers from the University of Liverpool. The scientists, working as part of an international team, tracked the spread of invasive Non-Typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) in sub-Saharan Africa, where it kills one in four people who catch it. They found that the emergence and spread of the deadly version of the intestinal germ is closely associated with Africa's HIV epidemic. Two waves in two locations The research team sequenced the DNA of 179 samples of Salmonella strains from across Africa. They found that new strains of the bacterium emerged in two waves and in two locations. The first started in south-eastern Africa about 52 years ago and the second wave started 35 years ago in the Congo Basin. Melita Gordon , from the University's Institute of Translational Medicine said: "We found that the emergence and spread of new variants of Salmonella Typhimurium mirrors the emergence of HIV in Africa.
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