AEGiS-14IAC: Molecular epidemiology of human immunodefiency virus type 1 in the Northern Province of South Africa.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

Molecular epidemiology of human immunodefiency virus type 1 in the Northern Province of South Africa.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. C10733)

Bessong PO, Morris L, Obi CL
Department of Microbiology, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa

BACKGROUND: South Africa has witnessed a dramatic increase in HIV prevalence within the last ten years. For the Northern Province, this increase in reflected in a 0.64% prevalence in 1992 to 12% in 2000. Coupled to the entry of other nationals into the Northern Province of South Africa, and the need for the development of a vaccine, the continuous surveillance of the HIV-1 genetic landscape is of importance. This study set out to determine for the first time the HIV-1 subtypes in circulation in the Northern Province, in a bid to update national data and to unravel new trends if any.

METHODS: Plasma was collected from forty-two EDTA blood samples obtained from HIV positive volunteers living in the Bela-Bela location of the Northern Province. Viral RNA was extracted using the QIAamp viral RNA Mini kit. HIV-1 env gene was amplified in a nested RT-PCR using primers ED5 and ED12, and ES7 and ES8. The gag gene was equally amplified using primers H1G777 and H1P202, and H1Gag 1584 and g17. Subtyping was performed using the gag and env Heteroduplex mobility assays.

RESULTS: Results obtained showed that 35 (83.3%) of the isolates were subtype C on both the gag and env sequences. 6 (0.14%) were classified as subtype C on either the gag or env sequences. For one sample no PCR product was generated for the gag or env region. Overall, this gives a 97.6% subtype C rating for the samples analyzed. No intersubtype recombinants were identified.

CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that despite the rapid increase in the prevalence of HIV, and the influx of nationals from neighbouring countries whose HIV-1 subtype distributions show significant percentages in subtypes A, B and D, the subtype circulating in the Northern Province is C. This reflects the situation reported in other provinces of the country. Efforts at designing, developing, and evaluating an HIV-1 vaccine for South Africa based on subtype C is further justified.

Keywords: AEGIS, Genes, gag, Epidemiology, Molecular, Genes, env, HIV-1, HIV Infections, Prevalence, RNA, Viral, Polymerase Chain Reaction, AIDS Vaccines, South Africa, Human, genetics

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C10733