title: Characteristics of HIV-1 non-B subtype infections in Northwest Poland.
abstract: The number of non-B subtype HIV-1 infections in Europe has been increasing even though major regional differences have been observed. This trend was investigated in northwestern Poland using sequence and epidemiological data from a cohort of 102 HIV-1-infected patients from Szczecin, Poland. HIV-1 subtypes were defined by phylogenetic analysis of viral reverse transcriptase- and protease-partial coding regions, and results were compared with online subtyping by Standford and REGA tools. Subtype analysis using on-line subtyping methods produced varying results if compared to phylogenesis, with concordant variant assignment obtained for 98% (100/102) of sequences by Stanford and 85% (87/102) by REGA. In the population studied, non-B subtype infections comprised 21% of the infections and consisted of subtype D (57%, n = 12), CRF01_AE (19%, n = 4), A and C clades (9.5%, n = 2), and the CRF13_cpx recombinant isolate (4.8%, n = 1). Patients carrying non-B subtypes were predominantly heterosexuals with high percentage (57%) of women observed in the group. All HIV-1 non-B women were Caucasian with majority (83%) of infections acquired in Poland; however, among 12 travelers included in the study a higher proportion of non-B infections was noted (50%, P = 0.01). Moreover, lower baseline lymphocyte CD4 counts (P = 0.01), higher baseline HIV-1 viremia (P = 0.08), and a more advanced stage of the disease (P = 0.03) were observed among individuals infected with non-B subtypes. The data indicated that the proportion of HIV-1 non-B subtype infections was higher than previously reported in Poland consisting of a high subtype D prevalence. Furthermore, subtype D transmission occurred primarily between heterosexual Caucasian individuals from this region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Hepatology, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland. mparczewski@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: Miłosz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parczewski
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leszczyszyn-Pynka
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bander
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urbańska
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stańczak
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boroń-Kaczmarska
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D016333:HIV Protease / Q000235:genetics; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase / Q000235:genetics; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; C514824:reverse transcriptase, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase; D016333:HIV Protease; C514803:p16 protease, Human immunodeficiency virus 1