Cordelia E M Coltart, Anne Hoppe, Michael Parker, Liza Dawson, Joseph J Amon, Musonda Simwinga, Gail Geller, Gail Henderson, Oliver Laeyendecker, Joseph D Tucker, Patrick Eba, Vladimir Novitsky, Anne-Mieke Vandamme, Janet Seeley, Gina Dallabetta, Guy Harling, M Kate Grabowski, Peter Godfrey-Faussett, Christophe Fraser, Myron S Cohen, Deenan Pillay, Ethics in HIV Phylogenetics Working Group, Joseph J. Amon, Rachel Baggaley, Edwin J. Bernard, David Burns, Myron S. Cohen, Cordelia C. Coltart, Gina Dallabetta, Liza Dawson, Nikos Dedes, Valerie Delpech, Patrick M. Eba, Christophe Fraser, Gail Geller, Danielle German, Peter Godfrey-Faussett, M. Kate Grabowksi, Irene Hall, Guy Harling, Gail Henderson, Anne Hoppe, Zisis Kozlakidis, Oliver Laeyendecker, Felix Mwanza, Vladimir Novitsky, Michael Parker, Deenan Pillay, Andreas Reis, Janet Seeley, Musonda Simwanga, Joseph D. Tucker, Anne-Mieke Vandamme, Joel O. Wertheim, Rick Zimmerman

Phylogenetic analysis of pathogens is an increasingly powerful way to reduce the spread of epidemics, including HIV. As a result, phylogenetic approaches are becoming embedded in public health and research programmes, as well as outbreak responses, presenting unique ethical, legal, and social issues that are not adequately addressed by existing bioethics literature. We formed a multidisciplinary working group to explore the ethical issues arising from the design of, conduct in, and use of results from HIV phylogenetic studies, and to propose recommendations to minimise the associated risks to both individuals and groups. We identified eight key ethical domains, within which we highlighted factors that make HIV phylogenetic research unique. In this Review, we endeavoured to provide a framework to assist researchers, public health practitioners, and funding institutions to ensure that HIV phylogenetic studies are designed, done, and disseminated in an ethical manner. Our conclusions also have broader relevance for pathogen phylogenetics.