An HIV type 1 subtype A outbreak among injecting drug users in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan experienced the start of the HIV-1 outbreak among intravenous drug users (IDUs) in 1997. To characterize genetically HIV-1 strains circulating in this country, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) DNA samples (1999-2002) derived from HIV-infected IDUs and their sexual partners in Pavlodar (n = 19), Shymkent (n = 6), and Qaraghandy (n = 18) regions were analyzed by the gag/env heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA). The 366-bp proviral env gene fragments encoding the gp120 C2-V3 region obtained from 16 individuals were sequenced. The results of HMA revealed that all 43 HIV-1 strains studied belonged to gag/env subtype A. The nucleotide sequence analysis showed a marked genetic homogeneity with the mean genetic distance being 3.63 +/- 2.39 (range 0.00-12.13). The mean genetic distance between each sequence within the Kazakhstan set and the East-European IDU subtype A consensus was 2.94 +/- 1.92 (range 0.79-8.48). The data presented thus confirm the spreading of the same IDU subtype A virus in the former Soviet Union.
Bobkov
Aleksei F
AF
The D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology, Moscow, Russia. a.bobkov@mail.ru
Kazennova
Elena V
EV
Sukhanova
Anna L
AL
Bobkova
Marina R
MR
Pokrovsky
Vadim V
VV
Zeman
Victoria V
VV
Kovtunenko
Natalia G
NG
Erasilova
Isidora B
IB
D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D020180:Heteroduplex Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007623:Kazakhstan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications*
D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120