[Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 strains in the Moscow Region]

The Moscow Region is one of the HIV-1-affected subjects of the Russian Federation; there were 34613 HIV-1-infected subjects as of October 31, 2009. To characterize the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in the Moscow Region, the investigators obtained and studied HIV-1 variants from 61 infected subjects of the region, who were major risk groups: intravenous drug users (IDUs) and hetero- and homosexually infected persons. Genetic analysis of HIV-1 variants was carried out by sequencing the gag genes (729 nucleotides in length, including full-length protein p17 and partial p24) andlor env (270 nucleotides in length, V3 region) with further phylogenetic analysis. The findings demonstrated that HIV-1 subtype A variants are dominant in the Moscow Region and detectable in 93.5% of IDUs and 100% of heterosexually infected persons. Phylogenetically (and accordingly epidemiologically) unrelated HIV-1 subtype B strains were revealed in 4 patients, including 2 IDUs.