Molecular epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 sub-subtype A3 in Senegal from 1988 to 2001

The global human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)epidemic is characterized by significant genetic diversity in circulating viruses. We have recently characterized a group of viruses that form a distinct sub-subtype within the subtype A radiation, which we have designated HIV type 1 (HIV-1) sub-subtype A, circulating in West Africa. A prospective study of a cohort of female sex workers (FSW) in Dakar, Senegal over an 18-year period indicated that an A3-specific sequence in the C2-V3 region of the env gene was found in 46 HIV-1-infected women. HIV-1 sub-subtype A3 appeared in the FSW population as early as 1988 and continued to be transmitted as of 2001. We also found that HIV-1 A3 is not confined to the FSW cohort in Senegal but is also circulating in the general population in Dakar. Furthermore, analyses of viral sequences from a few other West and Central African countries also demonstrated evidence of HIV-1 A3 sequence in isolates from HIV-1-infected people in Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger, Guinea Bissau, Benin, and Equatorial Guinea. Overall, because of the evidence of sub-subtype A3 in the general population in Senegal, as well as in a few neighboring West and Central African countries, along with the increasing incidence of infection with A3-containing viruses in the Dakar high-risk FSW population, we feel that HIV-1 sub-subtype A3 viruses are important to distinguish and monitor.