Abstract
We aimed to investigate the molecular epidemic characteristics and viral transmission patterns of HIV-1 in a typical labor export area, Guangyuan city, China. Based on conducting phylogenetic trees and molecular transmission networks, a phylogenetic analysis was performed on HIV-1 pol sequences obtained from 211 migrant-history workers, 83 non-migrant-history individuals, and 21 migrant-history unknown individuals between January, 2012 and February, 2017 in Guangyuan city. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that CRF07_BC (48.3%, n = 152) and CRF01_AE (33.3%, n = 105) were the dominant strains in Guangyuan city, and circulated by multiple lineages with various epidemic characteristics. Geographic network analysis showed that Guangyuan city-related sequences with 20.3% CRF07_BC and 28.3% CRF01_AE were linked to that of other provinces, compared to that with 1.7% CRF07_BC and 5.0% CRF01_AE in cities of Sichuan. Molecular transmission network analysis further illustrated that migrant-history workers linked more sequences from other provinces than non-migrant-history individuals in both CRF07_BC (29.3% versus 0.0%, P = 0.013) and CRF01_AE (40.5% versus 10.0%, P = 0.001) networks. Our results highlighted that migrant-history workers in recent year played a vital role in fueling HIV-1 epidemic in Guangyuan city. Molecular transmission network analysis could be a useful approach for disclosing the transmission mechanism of HIV, which should be used in prevention and intervention efforts.
Highlights
By the end of December 2017, approximately 758,610 people were living with HIV-1 in China, with an estimated 321,233 cases of AIDS
From all local voluntary counseling and testing sites (VCT), sentinel surveillance sites, and medical institutions, a total of 651 HIV-1 patients were newly diagnosed between January 1, 2012 and February 28, 2017 in Guangyuan city
A total of 67.0% participants reported that they had the experience of being migrant workers before diagnosed, and the mean age of the first going out as migrant workers was 26.9 ± 11.0 years
Summary
By the end of December 2017, approximately 758,610 people were living with HIV-1 in China, with an estimated 321,233 cases of AIDS. The newly diagnosed cases of HIV-1 in Sichuan province ranked first in China in 2017, and the prevalence of HIV-1 varied widely in regions[1]. The presence of relatively poor and developing towns and counties had made Sichuan become an important labor-exporting province, with a rapid increase in the prevalence of HIV-1. Guangyuan city, located in northern Sichuan province in western China (Fig. 1), was a mountainous agricultural city with 3.05 million registered populations currently. It was renowned for its large output of labors in www.nature.com/scientificreports/. The number of newly diagnosed HIV-1 infections increased from 81 in 2012 to 196 in 2017, showing a serious situation in HIV-1 prevalence. We characterized HIV-1 genetic diversity and transmission network in this labor-exporting representative city, Guangyuan city, and tried to explore a possible mechanism for controlling the spread of HIV-1 in this kind of areas
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