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The incidence of infection caused by HIV type 2 (HIV-2) may be increasing among residents of Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau. Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. A study examined the incidence of infection with HIV-2 among the occupants of 95 houses in Bissau between 1987 and 1989. Two of the houses were no longer inhabited in 1989. None of the HIV-positive individuals were infected with HIV type 1 alone. Nine percent of the adults were infected with HIV-2 in 1987, compared with 10% in 1989. Six percent of the individuals between 15 and 39 years old were infected with HIV-2 in 1987, compared with 11% in 1989. Only four children were infected with HIV-2 in both 1987 and 1989. A significant association was found been HIV-2 infection and a history of sexually transmitted diseases.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) infection differs significantly from HIV-1 in its means of transmission, its demographic incidence and its clinical course. HIV-2 infection was first identified in West Africa and is most prevalent there, although it appears to be spreading. Like HIV-1, HIV-2 infection can cause AIDS, but genetically, HIV-2 more closely resembles the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) than HIV-1. The close relationship between HIV-2 and SIV and the similar geographic distribution of the viruses further support the theory that HIV may have spread from monkeys to humans. The period between infection with HIV-2 and onset of AIDS appears to be longer for HIV-2 than for HIV-1 infection. HIV-2 in West Africa is spread primarily through sexual contact, and the mother-to-infant rate of transmission is lower for HIV-2 than for HIV-1. In Jun 1992, the US Food and Drug administration ruled that blood banks must screen donated blood for HIV-2.

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