[Molecular epidemiology analysis of HIV-1 subtype E strains found in Shenzhen, China].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalent status of HIV-1 subtype E epidemic among different populations in Shenzhen, China.


METHODS
HIV-1 proviral DNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 3 HIV-infected individuals found in Shenzhen was amplified by nested-PCR. The C2-V3 and its flanking region (350-450 nucleotides) of HIV- 1 env gene were sequenced directly from the PCR products and analysed.


RESULTS
These 3 cases were confirmed to be infected with HIV-1 subtype E strain (sz-E). The innergroups distance of sz-E was 2.6%. In comparison with the consensus sequence of international A-E subgroups and some of subtype B epidemic in China, the genetic distances among sz-E and each of A-D subgroups and some of subtype B were more than 24 %. Furthermore, the phylogenetic tree analysis showed that sz-E clustered closely to Econ.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggested that the epidemic time for HIV-1 subtype E, which was mainly prevalent among IDUs population and some professional blood donors, had been about 2-3 years in Shenzhen.
Feng
T
T
Shenzhen Hygiene and Anti-epidemic Station, Shenzhen 518020, China.
Shao
Y
Y
Li
L
L
D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015752:Genes, env / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA