A sudden epidemic of HIV type 1 among injecting drug users in the former Soviet Union: identification of subtype A, subtype B, and novel gagA/envB recombinants.
The former Soviet Union republics have experienced an explosive human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) epidemic among injecting drug users (IDUs), consisting mainly of subtype A viruses originated from a point source (Bobkov et al.: AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 1997;13:1195-1201). To determine whether new HIV-1 subtypes have entered the IDU population, 46 samples derived from IDUs in Russia (n = 39) and the Ukraine (n = 7) were genotyped by heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA). It was shown that 83% of IDU HIV-1 strains found in both countries belong to genetic subtype A. However, env subtype B was also found in 17% of cases. The sequence data showed a marked intrasubtype homogeneity of HIV-1 (the average means of interpatient genetic distance were 1.1 and 1.7% [in the gag gene] or 1.8 and 2.3% [in the env gene] for subtype A and subtype B, respectively), confirming the hypothesis of a point source of virus for each subtype variant. Moreover, recombinant gagA/envB variants originating from those two strains were also found in two samples collected in the Kaliningrad region of Russia. In conclusion, our results suggest that two strains of HIV-1 belonging to different genetic subtypes, A and B, as well as gagA/envB recombinants between genomes of these strains, are now circulating simultaneously among IDUs in the former Soviet Union.
Bobkov
A
A
The D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology, Moscow, Russia.
Kazennova
E
E
Selimova
L
L
Bobkova
M
M
Khanina
T
T
Ladnaya
N
N
Kravchenko
A
A
Pokrovsky
V
V
Cheingsong-Popov
R
R
Weber
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D015752:Genes, env / Q000235:genetics; D015750:Genes, gag / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous; D014455:Ukraine / Q000453:epidemiology
D004279:DNA, Viral; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes