Temporal trends in the HIV‐1 epidemic in Russia: Predominance of subtype A

Abstract

During the period 1996-1997, three highly homogeneous variants of HIV-1 were identified, circulating among injecting drug users (IDUs) in the former Soviet Union republics. One of these belonged to HIV-1 genetic subtype A (IDU-A), another belonged to HIV-1 genetic subtype B (IDU-B) and the third was a recombinant between the first two variants (CRF03_AB). However, since 1997, the HIV-1 epidemic has affected an increasing number of geographic regions in Russia. This study was undertaken to survey the prevailing genetic variants and to estimate the current proportions of these three HIV-1 genetic subtypes in Russia. Blood samples were taken in 1999-2003 from 1090 HIV-infected individuals and analysed by gag/env HMA. The IDU-A variant was found to be the majority variant (89.7-100%) in 44 of 45 regions of the Russian Federation studied. The IDU-A variant was also found to spreading rapidly through heterosexual transmission in 1999-2003 (30/34, 88%). CRF03_AB predominates in the Kaliningrad region only (28/29, 96.6%). The IDU-B variant is currently of minor importance in the IDU epidemic but other European subtype B variants predominate among men having sex with men (18/18, 100%). Sequence analysis of the env V3 encoding regions derived from HIV-1 infected individuals in Yekaterinburg (the main centre of the HIV-1 epidemic in Russia in 2002-2003) showed that the IDU-A variant is still highly homogeneous. The mean pairwise nucleotide distance (n = 9) was 2.89 +/- 1.14 (range 1.36-6.14). However, the mean genetic distance between each sequence within the samples collected from the Yekaterinburg IDU-A variant subset and the IDU-A consensus is 2.51 +/- 1.06 (range 1.36-4.66) and considerably higher than in South Russia in 1996 (0.79 +/- 0.51, range 0.38-1.90). The current HIV-1 epidemic in Russia is almost entirely caused by a highly homogeneous A-subtype strain, which will influence vaccine development strategies and must be taken into account in the quality control of molecular tests for the diagnosis of HIV-1.

Short Communication: Molecular Epidemiology, Phylogeny, and Phylodynamics of CRF63_02A1, a Recently Originated HIV-1 Circulating Recombinant Form Spreading in Siberia

“…[2][3][4] In 1995-1996 HIV-1 infections began to increase dramatically concomitantly with the expansion of a subtype A variant of Central African ancestry 5 that originated in Southern Ukraine 6,7 and spread to all countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU), in most of which it is the predominant HIV-1 genetic form 8,9 ; for this reason it is frequently designated A FSU variant. In addition to A FSU , other HIV-1 genetic forms circulating in FSU countries at lower prevalences include subtype B, predominant in men who have sex with men, [8][9][10] CRF03_AB, predominant in the Russian cities of Kaliningrad 11 and Cherepovets, 12 subtype F, circulating as a minor variant in St. Petersburg, Russia, 13 and a CRF02_AG variant (CRF02_AG FSU ), 14,15 which was first detected among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1999-2000, 14 and has subsequently been reported in Kazakhstan, new near full-length genome sequences of CRF63_02A1, reanalyzing its mosaic structure, and we estimate its epidemic history. For this study, 26 serum samples from HIV-1-infected individuals were collected in May and June 2013 at the Center for Prevention and Control of AIDS and Infectious Diseases, Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, which is located 5 km from the city of Novosibirsk and attends all HIV-infected people of the Novosibirsk region.…”

The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of HIV Type-1

“…For example, the CRF A/B is a mixture of subtypes A and B. The HIV-1 subtypes and CRFs are very unevenly distributed throughout the world, with the most widespread being subtypes A and C. Subtype A and CRF A/G predominate in West and Central Africa, with subtype A possibly also causing much of the Russian epidemic ( Bobkov, et al, 2004). Historically, subtype B has been the most common subtype / CRF in Europe, the Americas, Japan and Australia.…”

HIV Recombination and Pathogenesis – Biological and Epidemiological Implications

“…Subtype A is currently divided in to four sub-subtypes: A1-A4. Subsubtype A1 is one of the more common variants and is found throughout Western, Central and Eastern Africa and Eastern Europe, and two CRF forms containing subtype A1 (CRF02_AG and CRF03_AB) are also widely spread in these regions (Andersson et al, 1999;Bobkov et al, 2004;Dowling et al, 2002;Steain et al, 2005). Subtype A (sub-subtypes 1 and 2) strains are highly predominant in Kenya, with one study showing 93% of all strains found in the region being subtype A or a recombinant containing subtype A (Dowling et al, 2002).…”