title: HIV-1 superinfection is not a common event.
abstract: Evidence for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) superinfection was investigated among a group of four previously HIV-1 infected transfusion recipients (and the four implicated HIV-1 infected donors) identified by the Transfusion Safety Study, and two groups of 4 and 5 Brazilian injection drug users, who consistently injected themselves using shared paraphernalia. To probe these cases for possible superinfection we used heteroduplex mobility analysis (HMA) of HIV-1 tat, a technique which is a reliable for establishing epidemiologic linkages and searching for minor strains in mixed infection settings. In all these cases with established, untreated HIV-1 infections, we were unable to detect HIV-1 superinfection, even though the involved individuals were at high risk for second strain acquisition. We therefore conclude that although superinfection can occur in a few cases, it is a rare event, and the vast majority of recombinant HIV-1s characterized to date resulted from acute coinfections, rather than superinfection.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of São Paulo SP, R. Pedro de Toledo 781, 16 Andar, Vila Clementino, São Paulo, SP 04039-032, Brazil. rsdiaz@usp.br
authors.forename: Ricardo Sobhie
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pardini
authors.forename: Márcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Catroxo
authors.forename: Eva A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Operskalski
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Mosley
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Busch
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D020180:Heteroduplex Analysis; D006801:Humans; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous; D015163:Superinfection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D015696:Gene Products, tat; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus