A HIV-1 heterosexual transmission chain in Guangzhou, China: a molecular epidemiological study
Han, Z.; Leung, T.W.C.; Zhao, J.; Wang, M.; Fan, L.; Li, K.; Pang, X.; Liang, Z.; Lim, W.W.L.; Xu, H.
Virology Journal 6: 148
2009
ISSN/ISBN: 1743-422X PMID: 19778458 DOI: 10.1186/1743-422x-6-148Document Number: 209213
We conducted molecular analyses to confirm four clustering HIV-1 infections (Patient A, B, C & D) in Guangzhou, China. These cases were identified by epidemiological investigation and suspected to acquire the infection through a common heterosexual transmission chain. Env C2V3V4 region, gag p17/p24 junction and partial pol gene of HIV-1 genome from serum specimens of these infected cases were amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nucleotide sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that their viral nucleotide sequences were significantly clustered together (bootstrap value is 99%, 98% and 100% in env, gag and pol tree respectively). Evolutionary distance analysis indicated that their genetic diversities of env, gag and pol genes were significantly lower than non-clustered controls, as measured by unpaired t-test (env gene comparison: p < 0.005; gag gene comparison: p < 0.005; pol gene comparison: p < 0.005). Epidemiological results and molecular analyses consistently illustrated these four cases represented a transmission chain which dispersed in the locality through heterosexual contact involving commercial sex worker.