Phylogenetic characteristics of HIV‐1 among travelers entering China from Myanmar: A retrospective study. Issue 8 (28th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Li; Wang, Binhui; Liang, Yaobo; Feng, Yue; Dong, Shuwei; Wang, Yajuan; Li, Yaping; Zhang, A‐Mei; Liu, Li; Qin, Weihong; Xia, Xueshan
• Is Part Of: Journal of medical virology. Volume 89:Issue 8(2017)
• Page Start: 1404
• Page End: 1411
• Publication Date: 2017-03-28
• Subjects: burmese traveler -- human immunodeficiency virus 1 -- molecular epidemiology; Virology -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.24786
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-6615

Abstract

Abstract : Due to the open policy of the Chinese government, a large number of Burmese individuals enter China at land ports in Yunnan province for travel or business. However, the situation of HIV‐1 infection and its phylogenetic characteristics among these travelers remains unclear, which is a potential threat to public health. From January 2003 to December 2012, a total of 1, 961 travelers were detected to be positive for HIV‐1 infection at land ports between Myanmar and Yunnan province, China. From 1153 (58.8%) Burmese of them, we randomly collected 489 serum samples for HIV‐1 subtype/recombinant analysis. Based on successfully obtained 223 gag‐RT sequences, 187 of them were genotyped as 2 subtypes and 3 CRFs. CRF01_AE was showed to be the most prevalent genotype (54.3%), followed by subtypes C (13.5%) and B (10.8%). Notably, CRF07_BC (1.3%) and CRF08_BC (4.0%) were mainly distributed in travelers from Shan state and Kachin (91.7%, 11/12), but was not found in travelers from the capital city of Yangon (0/16). Additionally, there were 36 samples (16.1%) were preliminary determined as unique recombinant forms (URFs). The higher HIV‐1 infection among entering travelers from Myanmar and its diverse and complex genotypes distribution suggest this bridge population may facilitate the transmission of HIV‐1. It is necessary to have the strict monitoring on this population for prevention of HIV‐1 cross‐border transmission.