HIV-1 subtype distribution and its demographic determinants in newly diagnosed patients in Europe suggest highly compartmentalized epidemics
Abecasis, Ana B.; Wensing, Annemarie M. J.; Paraskevis, Dimitris; Vercauteren, Jurgen; Theys, Kristof; Van de Vijver, David A. M. C.; Albert, Jan; Åsjø, Birgitta; Balotta, Claudia; Beshkov, Danail; Camacho, Ricardo J.; Clotet, Bonaventura; De Gascun, Cillian; Griskevicius, Algis; Grossman, Zehava; Hamouda, Osamah; Horban, Andrzej; Kolupajeva, Tatjana; Korn, Klaus; Kostrikis, Leon G.; Kücherer, Claudia; Liitsola, Kirsi; Linka, Marek; Nielsen, Claus; Otelea, Dan; Paredes, Roger; Poljak, Mario; Puchhammer-Stöckl, Elisabeth; Schmit, Jean-Claude; Sönnerborg, Anders; Stanekova, Danika; Stanojevic, Maja; Struck, Daniel; Boucher, Charles A. B.; Vandamme, Anne-Mieke
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version

Date
2013-01-14Metadata
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Original version
https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-10-7Abstract
Background: Understanding HIV-1 subtype distribution and epidemiology can assist preventive measures and clinical decisions. Sequence variation may affect antiviral drug resistance development, disease progression, evolutionary rates and transmission routes. Results: We investigated the subtype distribution of HIV-1 in Europe and Israel in a representative sample of patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2005 and related it to the demographic data available. 2793 PRO-RT sequences were subtyped either with the REGA Subtyping tool or by a manual procedure that included phylogenetic tree and recombination analysis. The most prevalent subtypes/CRFs in our dataset were subtype B (66.1%), followed by sub-subtype A1 (6.9%), subtype C (6.8%) and CRF02_AG (4.7%). Substantial differences in the proportion of new diagnoses with distinct subtypes were found between European countries: the lowest proportion of subtype B was found in Israel (27.9%) and Portugal (39.2%), while the highest was observed in Poland (96.2%) and Slovenia (93.6%). Other subtypes were significantly more diagnosed in immigrant populations. Subtype B was significantly more diagnosed in men than in women and in MSM > IDUs > heterosexuals. Furthermore, the subtype distribution according to continent of origin of the patients suggests they acquired their infection there or in Europe from compatriots. Conclusions: The association of subtype with demographic parameters suggests highly compartmentalized epidemics, determined by social and behavioural characteristics of the patients.
Publisher
BioMed CentralJournal
RetrovirologyCopyright
Copyright 2013 Abecasis et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Ana B Abecasis et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.