The HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Russia is large and not well-controlled. To describe the more recent molecular epidemiology of HIV-1, transmitted drug resistance, and the relationship between the epidemics in this region, we sequenced the protease and reverse transcriptase genes of HIV-1 from 812 people living with HIV from Ukraine (n = 191), Georgia (n = 201), and Russia (n = 420) before the initiation of antiretroviral therapy. In 190 Ukrainian patients, the integrase gene sequence was also determined. The most reported route of transmission was heterosexual contact, followed by intravenous drug use, and men having sex with men (MSM). Several pre-existing drug resistance mutations were found against non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) (n = 103), protease inhibitors (n = 11), and nucleoside analogue RTIs (n = 12), mostly polymorphic mutations or revertants. In the integrase gene, four strains with accessory integrase strand transfer inhibitor mutations were identified. Sub-subtype A6 caused most of the infections (713/812; 87.8%) in all three countries, including in MSM. In contrast to earlier studies, no clear clusters related to the route of transmission were identified, indicating that, within the region, the exchange of viruses among the different risk groups may occur more often than earlier reported.
Dettaglio pubblicazione
2022, VIRUSES, Pages 2099- (volume: 14)
Molecular Epidemiology of HIV-1 in Eastern Europe and Russia (01a Articolo in rivista)
van de Klundert Maarten A. A., Antonova Anastasiia, Di Teodoro Giulia, Ceña Diez Rafael, Chkhartishvili Nikoloz, Heger Eva, Kuznetsova Anna, Lebedev Aleksey, Narayanan Aswathy, Ozhmegova Ekaterina, Pronin Alexander, Shemshura Andrey, Tumanov Alexandr, Pfeifer Nico, Kaiser Rolf, Saladini Francesco, Zazzi Maurizio, Incardona Francesca, Bobkova Marina, Sönnerborg Anders
Gruppo di ricerca: Continuous Optimization
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