Surprisingly high prevalence of subtype C and specific HIV-1 subtype/CRF distribution in men having sex with men in Senegal.
BACKGROUND
Recent reports showed the high vulnerability for HIV infection of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Africa. Here, we report the HIV-1 variants that circulate among MSM in Senegal.


METHODS
HIV-1 subtype/circulating recombinant form (CRF) was determined in an 1800-base pair fragment of pol for 70 HIV-1-positive samples from MSM. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using the neighbor-joining method with CLUSTALX. Similarity and bootstrap plots were then done for recombination analysis. The maximum likelihood approach was used for the identification of transmission clusters.


RESULTS
Sixty-seven samples (95%) were from Senegalese MSM, 90% unmarried with a median age of 30 years. Fifty-five MSM had regular male partners, but 39 of 70 had also a regular female partner. The overall subtype/CRF distribution was as follows: 28 C (40%), 17 CRF02_AG (24.3%), 13 B (18.6%), 6 G (8.6%), 3 CRF09_cpx (4.3%), and 3 (4.3%) unique recombinants. In addition, 47 sequences (67.15%) were segregated into 15 transmission clusters.


CONCLUSIONS
These variants circulate also among the general population or female sex workers, but the proportions are significantly different. Despite the massive stigma, the majority (80%) of MSM recognized having sex with women and could serve as a bridge for intermixing of HIV-1 variants between high-risk men and low-risk women.
Ndiaye
Halimatou Diop
HD
Laboratoire de Bactériologie-Virologie, CHU A. Le Dantec, Dakar, Sénégal.
Toure-Kane
Coumba
C
Vidal
Nicole
N
Niama
Fabien Roch
FR
Niang-Diallo
Pape Amadou
PA
Dièye
Tandakha
T
Gaye-Diallo
Aissatou
A
Wade
Abdoulaye Sidibe
AS
Peeters
Martine
M
Mboup
Souleymane
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012675:Senegal / Q000453:epidemiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D055815:Young Adult; D054302:pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics
D054302:pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus