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French researchers have discovered a rare, new HIV strain that can avoid detection with standard screening tests. The strain was found in a 40-year-old Cameroonian women who died of AIDS complications in 1995. The strain has only been found in three other cases, all in Cameroon. According to researchers the strain is related to both common HIV and SIV strains.

Following analysis of the woman's blood in Paris, researchers observed that the virus belonged to neither group M-- the predominant group-- or group O. They also noticed that the new strain had hallmarks of SIV. The scientists then tested 700 other frozen blood samples from people in Cameroon, finding that three other HIV samples matched the woman's.

The HIV variant does not appear to have any selective advantage that would cause it to spread at a different rate than the predominant strains. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the new strain an "interesting curiosity" and said it was unlikely that the new strain would pose a public health threat.

Editor's Note: from the Washington Post