title: Molecular epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in Guangdong province of southern China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the outbreak of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in Guangdong has been documented for more than a decade, the molecular characteristics of such a regional HIV-1 epidemic remained unknown.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By sequencing of HIV-1 pol/env genes and phylogenetic analysis, we performed a molecular epidemiologic study in a representative subset (n  = 200) of the 508 HIV-1-seropositive individuals followed up at the center for HIV/AIDS care and treatment of Guangzhou Hospital of Infectious Diseases. Of 157 samples (54.1% heterosexual acquired adults, 20.4% needle-sharing drug users, 5.7% receivers of blood transfusion, 1.3% men who have sex with men, and 18.5% remained unknown) with successful sequencing for both pol and env genes, 105 (66.9%) HIV-1 subtype CRF01_AE and 24 (15.3%) CRF07_BC, 9 (5.7%) B', 5 (3.2%) CRF08_BC, 5 (3.2%) B, 1 (0.6%) C, 3 (1.9%) CRF02_AG, and 5 (3.2%) inter-region recombinants were identified within pol/env sequences. Thirteen (8.3%) samples (3 naïves, 6 and 5 received with antiretroviral treatment [ART] 1-21 weeks and ≥24 weeks respectively) showed mutations conferring resistance to nucleoside/nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or protease inhibitors. Among 63 ART-naïve patients, 3 (4.8%) showed single or multiple drug resistant mutations. Phylogenetic analysis showed 8 small clusters (2-3 sequences/cluster) with only 17 (10.8%) sequences involved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms that sexual transmission with dominant CRF01_AE strain is a major risk for current HIV-1 outbreak in the Guangdong's general population. The transmission with drug-resistant variants is starting to emerge in this region.
authors.affiliation: Sino-French Collaborative Laboratory, Tropical Medicine Institute, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Weiping
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Jingyang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.forename: Chunhui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Weizhong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Haolan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Xiejie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Linchun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Linsheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delaporte
authors.forename: Jean-Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Andrieu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D019562:Viral Load; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D054302:pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D054302:pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus