Molecular epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 sub-subtype A3 in Senegal from 1988 to 2001.
The global human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)epidemic is characterized by significant genetic diversity in circulating viruses. We have recently characterized a group of viruses that form a distinct sub-subtype within the subtype A radiation, which we have designated HIV type 1 (HIV-1) sub-subtype A, circulating in West Africa. A prospective study of a cohort of female sex workers (FSW) in Dakar, Senegal over an 18-year period indicated that an A3-specific sequence in the C2-V3 region of the env gene was found in 46 HIV-1-infected women. HIV-1 sub-subtype A3 appeared in the FSW population as early as 1988 and continued to be transmitted as of 2001. We also found that HIV-1 A3 is not confined to the FSW cohort in Senegal but is also circulating in the general population in Dakar. Furthermore, analyses of viral sequences from a few other West and Central African countries also demonstrated evidence of HIV-1 A3 sequence in isolates from HIV-1-infected people in Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger, Guinea Bissau, Benin, and Equatorial Guinea. Overall, because of the evidence of sub-subtype A3 in the general population in Senegal, as well as in a few neighboring West and Central African countries, along with the increasing incidence of infection with A3-containing viruses in the Dakar high-risk FSW population, we feel that HIV-1 sub-subtype A3 viruses are important to distinguish and monitor.
Meloni
Seema Thakore
ST
Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, 651 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Sankalé
Jean-Louis
JL
Hamel
Donald J
DJ
Eisen
Geoffrey
G
Guéye-Ndiaye
Aissatou
A
Mboup
Souleymane
S
Kanki
Phyllis J
PJ
D001483:Base Sequence; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012675:Senegal; D011477:Sex Work; D013997:Time Factors