HIV-1 Epidemiology, Genetic Diversity, and Primary Drug Resistance in the Tyumen Oblast, Russia.

Introduction . Specific molecular epidemic features of HIV infection in Tyumen Oblast (TO), Russia, were studied. Methods . The genome sequences encoding HIV-1 protease-reverse transcriptase, integrase, and major envelope protein were examined for 72 HIV-1 specimens isolated from the TO resident infected in 2000-2015. Results . The recorded prevalence of HIV-1 subtype A (A1) is 93.1%; HIV-1 subtype B continues to circulate in MSM risk group (1.4%). Solitary instances of HIV-1 recombinant forms, CRF63_02A1 (1.4%) and CRF03_AB (1.4%), were detected as well as two cases of HIV-1 URF63_A1 (2.8%). Phylogenetic analysis showed no HIV-1 clustering according to the duration of infection and risk groups but revealed different epidemic networks confirming that HIV infection spread within local epidemic foci. A high incidence of CXCR4-tropic HIV-1 variants and a higher rate of secondary mutations influencing the virus fitness (K20R, L10V, and I) are observed among the virus specimens isolated from newly infected individuals. Conclusions . The current HIV-1 epidemic in TO develops within the local epidemic networks. Similar to the previous period, HIV-1 subtype A is predominant in TO with sporadic cases of importation of HIV-1 recombinant forms circulating in adjacent areas.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.