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An Affordable HIV-1 Drug Resistance Monitoring Method for Resource Limited Settings
Published on: March 30, 2014
HIV-1 Subtype distribution in morocco based on national sentinel surveillance data 2004-2005
Mohammed Akrim1, Sanae Lemrabet, Elmir Elharti
1Department of Epidemiology and Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. cookrl@ufl.edu.
Background:
Little is known about HIV-1 subtype distribution in Morocco. Some data suggest an emergence of new HIV subtypes. We conducted phylogenetic analysis on a nationally representative sample of 60 HIV-1 viral specimens collected during 2004-2005 through the Morocco national HIV sentinel surveillance survey.
Results:
While subtype B is still the most prevalent, 23.3% of samples represented non-B subtypes, the majority of which were classified as CRF02_AG (15%). Molecular clock analysis confirmed that the initial introduction of HIV-1B in Morocco probably came from Europe in the early 1980s. In contrast, the CRF02_AG strain appeared to be introduced from sub-Saharan Africa in two separate events in the 1990s.
Conclusions:
Subtype CRF02_AG has been emerging in Morocco since the 1990s. More information about the factors introducing HIV subtype-specific transmission will inform the prevention strategy in the region.
