By Kounteya Sinha, TNN
PORT BLAIR: A mutant strain of Hepatitis B — a viral infection that causes chronic liver failure, and is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV — has been isolated from the ancient and dwindling Nicobarese tribe of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Scientists from ICMR’s Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in Port Blair have found the deadly virus in some members of the tribe even after they were vaccinated against the disease.
Some were re-infected with Hepatitis B after vaccination. The mutant strain is highly virulent and resistant to all vaccines, which could spell doom for this ancient tribe, if not immediately controlled.
RMRC researchers, therefore, collected fresh blood samples from around 800 Nicobarese (250 of whom have been vaccinated, and the rest unvaccinated) from the two villages of Tamalu and Lapathy in last September and June to document the extent of the mutation.
[Note from SaneVax: When are people going to realize that a virus exists with one sole purpose – to survive! Every time a naturally occurring virus is suppressed, it will mutate to survive. This mutation will do one of two things – either the virus will become less virulent or more deadly. Obviously, the suppression/destruction of problem-causing viruses is not much more than a 50/50 gamble. Perhaps we should spend less time attempting to suppress viruses and more time finding ways to become more healthy and able to deal with the viruses we come in contact with.]
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