title: Molecular epidemiology of dual HIV-1/HIV-2 seropositive adults from Senegal, West Africa.
abstract: Dual infection with HIV-1 and HIV-2 can occur in locales where these viruses co-circulate, most commonly in West Africa. Although dual seropositivity is common in this region, the true rate of dual infection remains unclear. In addition, whether unique HIV-1 subtypes are circulating in dually infected individuals is unknown. A cohort of 47 HIV-1 and HIV-2 dually seropositive individuals from Senegal, West Africa was screened for the presence of HIV-1 and HIV-2 gag and env PBMC viral DNA sequences using PCR. Of the 47 dual HIV-1/HIV-2 seropositive individuals tested, 19 (40.4%) had infection with both HIV-1 and HIV-2 confirmed by genetic sequence analysis, whereas only HIV-1 or HIV-2 was confirmed in 17 (36.2%) or 9 (19.1%), respectively. The majority of HIV-1 subtypes found were CRF-02 and A, although subtypes D, C, G, J and B were also found, reflecting the subtypes known to be circulating in Senegal. There was no significant difference in HIV-1 subtype distribution between individuals with confirmed dual infection and patients in this study with dual seropositivity but lacking HIV-2, or with HIV-1 infected patients within the general population in Senegal, although the study was underpowered to detect anything but large differences. The prevalence of HIV-1/HIV-2 dual infection appears to be significantly less than that of dually seropositive individuals and this likely reflects cross-reactive serology. The common HIV-1 subtypes prevalent in West Africa (CRF-02 and subtype A) have a similar distribution to those found in our cohort of dually infected and dually seropositive subjects.
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. gottlieb@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Geoffrey S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Gottlieb
authors.forename: Papa Salif
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sow
authors.forename: Stephen E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hawes
authors.forename: Ibra
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ndoye
authors.forename: Awa M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Coll-Seck
authors.forename: Marcel E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Curlin
authors.forename: Cathy W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Critchlow
authors.forename: Nancy B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Kiviat
authors.forename: James I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Mullins
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D015752:Genes, env; D015750:Genes, gag; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012675:Senegal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral