[Comment] Evolution’s double-edged sword: SARS-CoV-2 adaptation in HIV reveals nature’s safety valve

In their Article published in The Lancet Microbe, Joseline M Velasquez-Reyes and colleagues present a remarkable chronicle of SARS-CoV-2 evolution spanning 750 days in an individual with untreated HIV, offering unprecedented insights into viral adaptation dynamics that challenge the current understanding of variant emergence.1 This extraordinary case reveals a fundamental evolutionary paradox: although the virus accumulated mutations reminiscent of the omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus months before its global emergence, the virus apparently lost its ability to transmit—nature’s unexpected safety valve against runaway viral evolution.