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Updated: Jul 22, 2025

An Affordable HIV-1 Drug Resistance Monitoring Method for Resource Limited Settings
Published on: March 30, 2014
HIV-1 Transmission Cluster in Injection Drug Users in Nairobi City, Kenya
Sella K Webale1, Mark Kilongosi2, Godwil Munyekenye2
1School of Biological sciences, Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya.
Background:
While there is a striking increase in the prevalence of HIV in injection drug users, information on envelope-gene subtypes and transmission clusters in injection drug users is scarce.
Method:
In a cross-sectional study, 247 injection drug users were recruited via out-rich method. Deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted from dry blood spot samples, amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction and sequenced. Subtyping was performed using COntext-based Modeling for Expeditious Typing (COMET) and Recombinant Identification Program (RIP) tools. Phylogenetic diversity and Transmission clusters were identified using MEGA version 6.0 and TreeLink, respectively.
Results:
Overall, 42 (17.0%) injection drug users were sero-positive for HIV-1. Of the 37 samples successfully sequenced, 29 (78.4%) sequences were identified as A1, 6 (16.2%) as AG while 1 (2.7%) as A1/G/AE and A1/C recombinants. The HIV subtypes formed clusters with little genetic diversity.
Conclusion:
The high HIV prevalence was associated with transmission clusters and diversity in subtypes indicating ongoing local transmission. Therefore, there is need for comprehensive HIV care tailored to this population.
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