Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 clades in Southern Brazil

Sonia Mara Raboni, Sérgio Monteiro de Almeida, Indianara Rotta, Cléa Elisa Lopes Ribeiro, Debra Rosario, Luine Rosele Vidal, Meri Bordignon Nogueira, Maristela Riedel, Maria da Graça Winhescki, Kátia Antunes Ferreira, Ronald Ellis

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) clades B and C account for more than 60% of the HIV-1 infections worldwide. In this paper, we describe the profiles of patients infected with subtypes of HIV-1 from the state of Paraná, Southern Brazil, and correlate them with demographic and epidemiological findings. A retrospective analysis of HIV cases reported from 1999-2007 was also performed. Data from 293 patients were reviewed and 245 were older than 13 (58% female). The distribution of clades was as follows: B 140 (57%), C 67 (23%), F 24 (10%) and mosaic or unique recombinant forms (URFs) 24 (10%). Of the 48 patients younger than 13 years of age (62.5% male), vertical transmission occurred in 46 and the distribution of clades was as follows: B 14 (29%), C 24 (50%), F 7 (15%) and URFs 6 (13%). There was no significant difference in mortality between HIV-1 subtypes. In both groups, patients infected with clade C tended to have higher rates of injection drug use exposure risk.