A South Korean medical team has found a very rare strain of the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) in a 33-year old woman who died of acquired immune deficiency symptoms (AIDS) in 1997.

Professors Choi Kang-won and Oh Myong-don of Seoul National University (SNU) said the HIV collected from the blood of the woman has a totally different gene structure than the usual form of HIV, which causes the deadly disease AIDS.

The SNU professors said the HIV of the Korean woman in question had the same gene structure as one collected from an AIDS patient in Cyprus who died in 1998.

Professor Choi said that the outcome of our research shows that a new variety of HIV exists in the nation. He said that therefore they need to develop AIDS vaccines to cope with new types of HIV.