title: An HIV type 1 subtype A outbreak among injecting drug users in Kazakhstan.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: The D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology, Moscow, Russia. a.bobkov@mail.ru
authors.forename: Aleksei F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Bobkov
authors.forename: Elena V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Kazennova
authors.forename: Anna L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Sukhanova
authors.forename: Marina R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bobkova
authors.forename: Vadim V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Pokrovsky
authors.forename: Victoria V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Zeman
authors.forename: Natalia G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Kovtunenko
authors.forename: Isidora B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Erasilova
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120