title: The Genetic Diversity and Evolution of HIV-1 Subtype B Epidemic in Puerto Rico.
abstract: HIV-1 epidemics in Caribbean countries, including Puerto Rico, have been reported to be almost exclusively associated with the subtype B virus (HIV-1B). However, while HIV infections associated with other clades have been only sporadically reported, no organized data exist to accurately assess the prevalence of non-subtype B HIV-1 infection. We analyzed the nucleotide sequence data of the HIV pol gene associated with HIV isolates from Puerto Rican patients. The sequences (n = 945) were obtained from our "HIV Genotyping" test file, which has been generated over a period of 14 years (2001-2014). REGA subtyping tool found the following subtypes: B (90%), B-like (3%), B/D recombinant (6%), and D/B recombinant (0.6%). Though there were fewer cases, the following subtypes were also found (in the given proportions): A1B (0.3%), BF1 (0.2%), subtype A (01-AE) (0.1%), subtype A (A2) (0.1%), subtype F (12BF) (0.1%), CRF-39 BF-like (0.1%), and others (0.1%). Some of the recombinants were identified as early as 2001. Although the HIV epidemic in Puerto Rico is primarily associated with HIV-1B virus, our analysis uncovered the presence of other subtypes. There was no indication of subtype C, which has been predominantly associated with heterosexual transmission in other parts of the world.
authors.affiliation: AIDS Research Program, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, 395 Industrial Reparada 2, Ponce, PR 00716-2348, USA. plopez@psm.edu.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: AIDS Research Program, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, 395 Industrial Reparada 2, Ponce, PR 00716-2348, USA. vrivera@psm.edu.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rivera-Amill
authors.affiliation: AIDS Research Program, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, 395 Industrial Reparada 2, Ponce, PR 00716-2348, USA. nrodriguez@psm.edu.
authors.forename: Nayra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: AIDS Research Program, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, 395 Industrial Reparada 2, Ponce, PR 00716-2348, USA. fvargas@psm.edu.
authors.forename: Freddie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.affiliation: AIDS Research Program, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine/Ponce Research Institute, 395 Industrial Reparada 2, Ponce, PR 00716-2348, USA. yyamamura@psm.edu.
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamamura
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HIV-1 subtype B; Puerto Rico; evolution; genetic diversity