Comparison of HIV-1 A6 dispersal dynamics in Poland before and after the war in Ukraine

The war-related migrations from Ukraine to Poland have resulted in an increased prevalence of individuals diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) A6 variant. We examined the impact of the influx of people living with HIV (PLWH) displaced from Ukraine on the emergence of transmission events and evolving patterns in the A6 epidemic in Poland. We created a dataset of 13,696 unique HIV-1 pol gene fragments of sub-subtype A6 including 1,889 sequences from Poland. To evaluate the import of distinct clusters and estimate dispersal dynamics, we performed time calibration of the maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees and phylogeographic inferences using the software package BEAST with discrete and continuous diffusion models. Our results indicated that A6 infections among males predominated within the domestic population (76.1%, n = 1,437), primarily within large clusters. Among Ukrainian migrants, 69.5% of the cases occurred as singletons or dyads (n = 473; p < 0.0001) with a balanced male-to-female ratio of 1.1. Since the war, the contribution of HIV-acquired individuals born in Ukraine to the virus circulation in Poland has increased to 30.2%, with an additional 334 distinct A6 introductions, inferred as internal nodes and descendant clusters that likely entered Poland from other countries. These migration events were concentrated in the central regions with a higher HIV prevalence. After the war outbreak in 2022, the number and complexity of A6 transmission chains in Poland expanded, driven by male-dominated domestic clusters and war-related migration. Understanding the existence of two distinct transmission dynamics is critical for designing targeted public health interventions. Halting national sub-subtype A6 circulation requires a combined approach that harmonizes the existing strategy focused on the men who have sex with men population with enhanced efforts to link migrants to care.