HIV Tracking Technology Could Pinpoint Who's Infecting Who

Daniel_Stuckey writes: No man is an island, but evolutionarily, each person functions like one for the HIV virus. That's according to Thomas Leitner, a researcher working on a project aimed at creating technology for tracking HIV through a population. The technology, which is being studied at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, may allow people to identify who infected them with the virus, a development that could have major implications in criminal proceedings. “If you’re familiar with Darwin’s finches, you have a population of birds on one island and they keep moving and evolving as they spread to other islands so that each population is a little different,” Leitner said. “With HIV, it’s the same. Every person infected with HIV has a slightly different form the the virus. It’s the ultimate chameleon because it evolves this way.”