title: Genetic characterization of HIV-1 strains in the Baltic countries and Russia.
abstract: Proviral nucleotide sequences from the p7 region of the gag gene were compared among 40 Baltic and Russian HIV-1 strains. 33 of the infected persons carried a virus belonging to subtype B. Thus subtype B, which is most prevalent in Western Europe, was the most common subtype in all 3 Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia, and was associated with homosexual transmission. It also seemed that viruses of the same origin have been circulating in these countries; most of the subtype B viruses studied (n = 22) belonged to a closely related virus pool with average inter-nucleotide sequence distances of 2.7%. In 7 cases, viruses of non-B subtypes were found (1 subtype D from Estonia, 1 subtype C from Latvia, 1 subtype A from Lithuania and 1 subtype G from Russia). Three closely related viruses (1 from Lithuania and 2 from Russia) remained unclassified.
authors.affiliation: National Public Health Institute, Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liitsola
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Laukkanen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Denisova
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grishkevichius
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Smolskaja
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ustina
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vlasov
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leinikki
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Salminen
mesh_terms: D001454:Baltic States / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology