HIV-1 subtype diversity and transmission strain source among men who have sex with men in Guangxi, China

Yi Chen,Mei Lin,Edward B Mcneil,Jianjun Li,Zhiyong Shen,Kailing Tang,Yi Feng,Xianwu Pang,Shuai Tang,Hui Xing,Shujia Liang,Guanghua Lan,Yuhua Ruan,Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-87745-3

Abstract

With the rapid increase in HIV prevalence of men who have sex with men (MSM) in recent years and common human migration and travelling across different provinces in China, MSM are now finding it easier to meet each other, which might contribute to local HIV epidemics as well as fueling cross-province transmission. We performed a cross-sectional survey in 2018–2019 to investigate the current HIV subtype diversity and inferred HIV strain transmission origin among MSM in Guangxi province, China based on a phylogenetic analysis. Based on 238 samples, we found that the HIV-1 subtype diversity was more complicated than before, except for three major HIV subtypes/circulating recombinant forms (CRFs): CRF07_BC, CRF01_AE, CRF55_01B, five other subtypes/CRFs (CRF59_01B, B, CRF08_BC, CRF67_01B, CRF68_01B) and five unique recombinant forms (URFs) were detected. In total, 76.8% (169/220) of samples were infected with HIV from local circulating strains, while others originated from other provinces, predominantly Guangdong and Shanghai. The high diversity of HIV recombinants and complicated HIV transmission sources in Guangxi MSM indicates that there has been an active sexual network between HIV positive MSM both within and outside Guangxi without any effective prevention. Inter-province collaboration must be enforced to provide tailored HIV prevention and control services to MSM in China.

Highlights

With the rapid increase in HIV prevalence of men who have sex with men (MSM) in recent years and common human migration and travelling across different provinces in China, MSM are finding it easier to meet each other, which might contribute to local HIV epidemics as well as fueling crossprovince transmission
When combining HIV phylogenetic analysis with epidemiological information, HIV epidemiology can be classified into three general categories: (1) molecular Epidemiology, which allows an understanding of the risk factors for HIV transmission and epidemic spread; (2) phylodynamics, which reconstructs the epidemic history and quantifies epidemic growth or decline using viral genealogies and explicit population genetic models; and (3) phylogeography, which describes the distribution of subtype diversity, estimates the impact of human migration on viral spread, and places historical and risk factor data into geographic context in order to identify transmission h ubs[3]
The only variable associated with HIV subtypes was area of residence; except for the CRF01_AE subtype, a higher proportion of participants with other subtypes lived in a rural area

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid increase in HIV prevalence of men who have sex with men (MSM) in recent years and common human migration and travelling across different provinces in China, MSM are finding it easier to meet each other, which might contribute to local HIV epidemics as well as fueling crossprovince transmission. We performed a cross-sectional survey in 2018–2019 to investigate the current HIV subtype diversity and inferred HIV strain transmission origin among MSM in Guangxi province, China based on a phylogenetic analysis. The high diversity of HIV recombinants and complicated HIV transmission sources in Guangxi MSM indicates that there has been an active sexual network between HIV positive MSM both within and outside Guangxi without any effective prevention. The objective of our study is to identify the current diversity of HIV subtypes in Guangxi MSM, and further analyze the temporal-geographical origins of HIV transmission sources

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion