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268 Molecular Epidemiology of HIV-1 in Hungary Resembles Western Europe
S.A. Tasker*1, D. Banhegyi2, R. Graham3, Z. Gerlei2, J. Szlavik2, M. Darwish3, G. Chapman3, D. L. Birx1, and J. K. Carr1
1US Military HIV Res. Program, Rockville, MD, USA; 2Szent Lazlo Hosp., Budapest, Hungary; and 3US Naval Med. Res. Unit 3, Cairo, Egypt
Background: Knowledge of circulating HIV subtypes will be a critical issue in HIV vaccine deployment. Western Europe, like the US, has a predominance of subtype B infections, but in the former Soviet Union epidemics of subtype A and AB recombinants are growing. Little is known about the prevalence of various HIV subtypes in the border countries of Eastern Europe. We report subtype analysis of 29 patients followed at Szent Lazlo Hospital in Budapest, Hungary.
Methods: All HIV+ patients in Hungary are referred to Szent Lazlo Hospital for evaluation and care. As of September 2000, 868 AIDS cases had been reported in Hungary. Currently, approximately 250 patients are followed at Szent Lazlo. After giving informed consent, a subset of patients had blood samples screened by ABI sequencing of env C2-V5 and those sequences were phylogenetically analyzed.
Results: Twenty-nine samples were sequenced of which 25 (86%) were found to be subtype B. The remaining 4 (14%) included 1 subtype G (from a man who had lived in Yemen), 1 CRF02_AG (from a Nigerian man), and 2 unusual subtype As, 1 from a Nigerian man and 1 from a Hungarian woman. The subtype A samples were genetically similar to each other, suggesting a transmission link, but were dissimilar to subtype As previously reported from the former Soviet Union.
Conclusions: HIV epidemiology in Hungary is most similar to Western Europe, where subtype B predominates with a heterogeneous minority of non-subtype B infections, predominantly in African immigrants. The subtype A epidemic in the former Soviet Union has not yet spread into Hungary.
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