Research

Research Centres for the Chinese HIV-like Virus

Research on this emerging new "HIV-like" microbe has been conducted at the Pasteur Institute of Shanghai, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), the Army Medical University, and at other institutions. However, scientists at these centres have not yet determined the nature or identity of this pathogen, but have ruled out many possibilities.

The following hospitals and research centres are aware of this outbreak:

While most researchers in China have expressed the view that this disease is caused by a microbe such as a virus, the Chinese government has tended to dismiss the opinions of these researchers, and has unfortunately often stated that yinzibing is not a real physical disease. Thus patients with yinzibing face a continued struggle to get medical and government recognition for this disease.


Latest Research Updates

May 2019: A study (local copy here) by the Third Military Medical University on yinzibing found "obvious immune dysfunction and inflammatory reactions" in the patients, and noted that the symptoms and cognitive processes in yinzibing patients are very similar to those of the illness myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The study authors suggest yinzibing might be a subtype of ME/CFS. 

March 2013: A study (local copy here) performed at the Third Military Medical University, and examining 52 patients with the HIV-like disease (plus an additional 174 cases by telephone questionnaire), concluded that the clinical features of this disease have consistency and regularity, and need to be further investigated. This study also concluded that this HIV-like disease cannot be completely explained by a mental disorder (meaning this is a real physical disease that happens to cause mental symptoms). This study is discussed in this article in the Web of Science Magazine.

January 2012: Dr Zhou Rong (周荣 in Chinese) tested around 100 patients with the HIV-like disease for various pathogens. He found many herpes family viruses (such as EBV, HHV-6, HHV-7, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus) were active in these patients. This perhaps suggests that yinzibing is lowering immunity, and thereby allowing herpes viruses that are normally dormant in the body to reactivate.

August 2011: The Peking Union Medical College published a study (local copy here) on 46 patients with the HIV-like disease, in the Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine. Most patients had greater than 500 CD4 cells per mm3, but a few patients had lower counts, in the range of 300 to 500 CD4 cells per mm3. A few patients had inverted CD4/CD8 ratios. The study concluded that the HIV-like disease is a complicated physical and mental condition, whose diagnosis and treatment still need further investigation.

May 2011: Dr Zhong Nanshan (钟南山 in Chinese) of Guangzhou Medical College tested 60 patients with the HIV-like disease, and found each was infected with multiple (but known) pathogens, including Epstein-Barr virus, Chlamydia trachomatis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus. Experts had different opinions as to why these people were infected with multiple pathogens.

April 2010: The Pasteur Institute of Shanghai tested patients for 500 types of known virus, and have excluded the possibility that this HIV-like virus is one of these 500.

March 2010: The Pasteur Institute of Shanghai are planning to take tissues samples from the infected patients for further investigation, as they found nothing in the blood.

January 2010: The Chinese Center for Disease Control begin research on the HIV-like virus. Results here.

December 2009: Pasteur Institute of Shanghai: research has confirmed that this virus is NOT a mutated HIV virus. China CDC has also confirmed that this is NOT a new strain of HIV virus.


Confusing Terminology: Diseases with Similar Names

Note 1: the new HIV-like virus in China detailed on this website is not to be confused with the adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome found in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Taiwan. This Southeast Asian syndrome is a very rare autoimmune condition that is not contagious, and tends to only affect people of Asian descent, typically those who are around 50 years old. 

This adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome arises as a result of the body making autoantibodies that disable interferon gamma, an important part of the immune system. The adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome was first discovered in 2004, and although the media often label it the "Asian AIDS-like disease" or similar, it appears to have no relation to yinzibing, the HIV-like virus in China. So these are two different diseases, but with a similar name.

Note 2: The use of the names "non-HIV AIDS" or "HIV-negative AIDS" to refer to yinzibing is unfortunate, as these names are also sometimes used to describe the medical condition idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia (ICL), which is diagnosed when a person has a CD4 count of less than 300 cells per mm3 of blood, in the absence of any HIV virus. 

Such a low CD4 count in itself is often not of any great medical concern, as the very elderly may have low CD4 counts in the ICL range, yet remain healthy; and marathon runners often have low CD4 counts in the ICL range. Temporarily low CD4 counts can also be a consequence of infections such as enterovirus (see here), Epstein-Barr virus or cytomegalovirus; long-term low CD4 counts have been observed in patients with chronic Epstein-Barr virus or cytomegalovirus infections (see here).