Abstract
BackgroundThe HIV-1 epidemic in Brazil is predominantly driven by subtype B. However, in Brazilian Southern region subtype C prevails and a relatively high AIDS incidence rate is observed. The aim of the present study was to assess the temporal dynamics of HIV-1 subtypes circulating in patients from distinct exposure categories in Southern Brazil. For this purpose 166 HIV-1 samples collected at the years of 1998 (group I) and 2005–2008 (group II) were analyzed.ResultsAnalysis of group I revealed statistically significant (p < 0.05) associations between MSM and subtype B as well as between IDU and subtype C; while no statistical significant association between HIV-1 subtypes and exposure category was verified for group II. An overall temporal increase in the prevalence of subtype C and BC recombinants was observed in both HET and MSM populations, accompanied by a proportional decrease in the prevalence of the pure subtype B.ConclusionsThe present study shows an association between HIV subtypes and exposure categories at the middle 1990s in Southern Brazil. Our findings suggest that MSM and IDU populations might have played a major role in the introduction and initial dissemination of subtypes B and C, respectively, in Southern Brazil. This study also suggests a trend towards homogenization of HIV-1 strains across distinct exposure categories as a consequence of an overall increase in the prevalence of subtype C and BC recombinants in both HET and MSM populations.
Highlights
The main hallmark of the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 is an extraordinary evolution rate, which results in high molecular diversity and dynamism of the Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic [1]
All patients included in group II were antiretroviral naïve, while 55% of individuals from group I declared to be under antiretroviral therapy
Selecting a sample of injection drug users (IDU) is not a simple task since injecting drug is an illegal and stigmatizing behavior, and these individuals are usually outside the public health services. These results suggest that HIV-1 clades B and C may have been introduced and initially disseminated in Porto Alegre through the men who have sex with men (MSM) and IDU transmission networks, respectively
Summary
The main hallmark of the HIV-1 is an extraordinary evolution rate, which results in high molecular diversity and dynamism of the AIDS epidemic [1]. Composed by the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná, the Brazilian Southern region shows a remarkably high prevalence of subtype C and BC recombinant forms [11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]. The aim of the present study was to assess the temporal dynamics of HIV-1 subtypes circulating in patients from distinct exposure categories in Southern Brazil. For this purpose 166 HIV-1 samples collected at the years of 1998 (group I) and 2005–2008 (group II) were analyzed
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