title: Molecular epidemiology of HIV type 2 infections in South India.
abstract: A small but significant number of HIV-2 cases have been reported from India. Although all HIV-2 viruses identified belong to subtype A, there are no studies on the diversity of the HIV-2 envelope and other genomic regions from India. Furthermore, HIV-2 envelope quasispecies in infected individuals has not been studied in detail. This study was designed to address these gaps existing in the epidemiology of HIV-2 in the country. Amongst the 4685 HIV-positive samples, 27 (0.57%) were positive for antibodies to HIV-2 by Western blot. Amplification of HIV-2 genomic regions was possible in 10 of these 27 samples. Sequences of the envelope C2V3C3 region (n = 8), partial stretches of LTR (n = 9), and gag-pol (n = 2) were analyzed. Sequences belonged to HIV-2 subtype A clustered together in the phylogenetic tree and were closely related to sequences reported from the neighboring states of Karnataka. The mean quasispecies diversity in a sample was found to be 3.5%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurovirology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India 560029 .
authors.forename: R Susmita
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Gurjar
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ravi
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Desai