The Molecular Epidemiology of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 in Six Cities in Britain and Ireland

Abstract

We have sequenced the p17 coding regions of the gag gene from 211 patients infected either through injecting drug use (IDU) or by sexual intercourse between men from six cities in Scotland, N. England, N. Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. All sequences were of subtype B. Phylogenetic analysis revealed substantial heterogeneity in the sequences from homosexual men. In contrast, sequence from over 80% of IDUs formed a relatively tight cluster, distinct both from those of published isolates and of the gay men. There was no large-scale clustering of sequences by city in either risk group, although a number of close associations between pairs of individuals were observed. From the known date of the HIV-1 epidemic among IDUs in Edinburgh, the rate of sequence divergence at synonymous sites is estimated to be about 0.8%. On this basis we estimate the date of divergence of the sequences among homosexual men to be about 1975, which may correspond to the origin of the B subtype epidemic.

Molecular Epidemiology Reveals Long‐Term Changes in HIV Type 1 Subtype B Transmission in Switzerland

“…The broadest pattern observed was the strong separation between the transmission clusters dominated by MSMs and those dominated by IDUs and HETs. Separation of IDUs from other transmission groups (mainly MSMs and hemophiliacs) has previously been found in a number of smaller studies [9,10,25,26], whereas an association between IDUs and HETs has only been documented for a fairly small study based on patients from Edinburgh [9]. On top of this broad separation, we have found a weaker but still substantial exchange between HETs and MSMs, which has not been found in previous molecular epidemiology studies.…”

A Genetic Analysis of Hepatitis C Virus Transmission between Injection Drug Users

“…It is therefore much more likely that the phylogenetic mixing is the result of IDUto-IDU transmission among the sampled populations. A similar observation of phylogenetic mixing has been demonstrated for HIV infection of IDUs from different cities in the United Kingdom and Ireland [25] and from different European countries [26]. In the former report, the authors found no clear evidence of segregation of sequences on the basis of city or country of origin, whereas, in the latter, segregation evident early in the epidemic was found to be progressively lost over time.…”

Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 infection in Europe: An overview

“…In the United Kingdom, HIV-1 was first identified during the 1980s among MSM with all identified strains belonging to B clade (Brown et al, 1997;I,, 1988;Wade et al, 1998). However, the pattern in heterosexual groups is changing with a steady increase in the number of non-B clades since the 1990s (Hughes et al, 2009) and has mainly been associated with sub-Saharan African and South American immigration (de Oliveira et al, 2010;Fox et al, 2010; United Kingdom Collaborative Group on HIV Drug Resistance, 2014).…”