title: HIV type 1 genetic diversity surveillance among newly diagnosed individuals from 2003 to 2005 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
abstract: To perform a diversity surveillance study we characterized viral subtypes among newly diagnosed individuals in Buenos Aires city. Plasma samples were collected from 322 drug-naive newly diagnosed HIV-1 individuals attending two voluntary counseling and testing centers. Sequences of pol and vpu genes were obtained from 283 samples and viral subtype was characterized by Neighbor-joining trees and Bootscanning analysis. BF recombinants were found in 56.9% followed by subtype B strains (39.2%). CRF12_BF structure was found in 27% of BF while another 27% had that structure only in one of both genes analyzed. Unusual non-B-non-BF strains were found in 3.9% (11/283). They were further analyzed by database searching and maximum likelihood trees in order to track their origin. Two subtype C sequences were found to be related to South American isolates while another two subtype C sequences and the subtype C segment of a BC recombinant were found to be related to isolates from Senegal. We also identified the CRF16_A2D previously found in Argentina and the CRF06_cpx commonly prevalent in Africa. The B segment of a BD recombinant was also found to be related to the Argentinean Bs suggesting a recombination between an African and a local strain. We also found a BK and two BA recombinants. In conclusion, CRF16_A2D and a new line of subtype C (of Senegalese origin) seem to be successfully established and are now spreading in Buenos Aires. BF recombinants keep recombining with local strains losing the CRF12_BF structure. Altogether they are changing the diversity of HIV in Argentina.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Referencia para el SIDA, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Dario A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Dilernia
authors.forename: Alejandro M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lourtau
authors.forename: Rubén
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marone
authors.forename: Marcelo H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Losso
authors.forename: Horacio
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salomón
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gómez-Carrillo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D011159:Population Surveillance