On the contribution of Angola to the initial spread of HIV-1

Abstract

Angola borders and has long-term links with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as high levels of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) genetic diversity, indicating a potential role in the initial spread of the HIV-1 pandemic. Herein, we analyze 564 C2V3 and 354 pol publicly available sequences from DRC, Republic of Congo (RC) and Angola to better understand the initial spread of the virus in this region. Phylogeographic analyses were performed with the BEAST software and migration records from the first half of the 20th century in DRC were collected from colonial archives. While our results pinpoint the origin of the pandemic to Kinshasa (DRC) around 1906, our results indicate that the introduction of HIV-1 to Angola could have occurred early between 1910 and 1930. Furthermore, most of the initial HIV-1 migrations out of Kinshasa were directed not only to Lubumbashi (DRC), but also to Angola and Brazzaville. Migration records corroborate these findings, indicating that the early exportation of the virus to Angola might be related to the high number of Angolan immigrants in Kinshasa at that time, originated mostly from the North of Angola. In summary, our results place Angola at the epicenter of early HIV dissemination, together with DRC and RC.

Current and historic HIV-1 molecular epidemiology in paediatric and adult population from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo

“…However, it is more interesting to analyze HIV molecular diversity in an area with a high viral diversity, especially if the place is the origin of a HIV-1 pandemic, where the virus has been circulating for a longer period and new, more pathogenic or transmissible variants could have arised. HIV-1 pandemic originated in Central Africa 24 , specifically in the DRC, Kinshasa being the epicenter 12 , spreading to neighboring cities or countries 25 .…”

Divergent HIV-1 strains (CRF92_C2U and CRF93_cpx) co-circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Phylogenetic insights on the early evolutionary history of subtype C

“…Between the 1920s and the 1950s, multiple factors (i.e. urban growth, strong railway links developed during Belgian colonial rule and disproportionate sex ratios in the early 20th century—a predominance of males in urban settings) led to the fast spread of HIV from Kinshasa to other regions in the DRC, and subsequently across the globe ( Faria et al 2014 ; Pineda-Pena et al 2016 ; Mir et al 2016 ).…”

The impact of HIV-1 within-host evolution on transmission dynamics

“…HIV-1 is characterized by extensive genetic diversity within and between hosts, but distinct processes and rates shape viral evolution at these levels 35 [2, 3, 14, 15]. While within-host evolutionary dynamics are dominated by selective forces and competitive fitness ( Figure 2) [2], between-host evolution is considered to be largely shaped by neutral processes and multiple HIV-1 variants co-exist at the epidemiological level, although recent findings might imply more selective action at this level than generally assumed [16,17]. Circulating 40 viral diversity at population level is an intrinsic reflection of transmission dynamics within the epidemic [2], but virus and host genetics additionally impact between-host dynamics [10,18,19,5,20,2,21].…”