Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 subtype A in former Soviet Union countries.

Brian Foley,Rakhmanbek Toichuev,Gonzalo Hortelano,Muhammad Raees,Paul Sandstrom,Sabit Abdraimov,Lazzat Aibekova,Syed Ali

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0191891

Abstract

While in other parts of the world it is on decline, incidence of HIV infection continues to rise in the former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. The present study was conducted to investigate the patterns and modes of HIV transmission in FSU countries. We performed phylogenetic analysis of publicly available 2705 HIV-1 subtype A pol sequences from thirteen FSU countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Our analysis showed that the clusters from FSU countries were intermixed, indicating a possible role of transmigration in HIV transmission. Injection drug use was found to be the most frequent mode of transmission, while the clusters from PWID and heterosexual transmission were intermixed, indicating bridging of HIV infection across populations. To control the expanding HIV epidemic in this region, harm reduction strategies should be focused on three modes of transmission, namely, cross-border migration, injection drug use and heterosexual.

Highlights

Regarding prevention and control of HIV infection, the global situation has been encouraging over the past few years
To examine HIV transmission networks in former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, 2705 publicly available HIV-1 subtype A pol sequences were downloaded from the Los Alamos HIV Sequence Database for thirteen countries: Armenia (2009), Azerbaijan (2001–2002), Belarus (1997–2014), Estonia (2001–2010), Georgia (1998–2003), Kazakhstan (1997–2013), Kyrgyzstan (2002–2010), Latvia (1998–2008), Lithuania (1997–2007), Moldova (1997), Russia (1986–2015), Ukraine (1996–2012), and Uzbekistan (1999–2002)
Phylogenetic analysis of these sequences showed that HIV-1 subtype A sequences were most predominant from all FSU countries in our study except for Kyrgyzstan and Estonia, where the most represented sequences were of CRF02_AG and subtype 06_cpx, respectively (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Regarding prevention and control of HIV infection, the global situation has been encouraging over the past few years. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the first case of HIV infection was recorded in the 1980s [2]. Further transmission of HIV-1 was recorded after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 [2, 3, 4]. During the years that followed, deterioration of socio-economic situation in the former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, coupled with visa-free cross-border movement, led to massive migrations within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries [5, 6]. This cross-border migration facilitated, among other things, transmission of infectious diseases

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Discussion

Conclusion