Recombinant Patterns of Nine Novel HIV-1 Recombinant Strains Identified in Hebei Province, China

We found cluster 1 and cluster 2 that were identified as two potential circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) by analyzing the recombinant breakpoints and phylogenetic tree. Three sequences composed of CRF01_AE, subtype C, and potential subtype B (N/A) in cluster 1 had nearly identical recombinant breakpoints, and four sequences composed of CRF01_AE and subtype B in cluster 2 possessed identical breakpoints. Demographic characteristics indicated that there were no epidemiological linkages among three subjects in cluster 1 and four subjects in cluster 2, respectively. Likewise, two unique recombinant forms (URFs) were found in this study: one URF was composed of subtype C and subtype B, and subtype B was inserted into a backbone of subtype C; another URF was composed of subtype C, subtype B, CRF01_AE, and subtype A2. It was inferred that the potential novel CRFs and URFs have spread into general populations, suggesting that the series research of novel recombinant strains will be a priority for our researches in the future.