Changing patterns in HIV-1 non-B clade prevalence and diversity in Italy over three decades

Lai, A
Riva, C
Marconi, A
Balestrieri, M
Razzolini, F
Meini, G
Vicenti, I
Rosi, A
Saladini, F
Caramma, I
Franzetti, M
Rossini, V
Galli, A
Galli, M
Violin, M
Zazzi, M
Balotta, C

Open link

Publication date

January 2010

DOI

10.1111/j.1468-1293.2010.00832.x

Publisher

Blackwell Science

ISSN

1464-2662

Citation count (estimate)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: HIV-1 non-B subtypes have recently entered Western Europe following immigration from other regions. The distribution of non-B clades and their association with demographic factors, over the entire course of the HIV-1 epidemic, have not been fully investigated in Italy. METHODS: We carried out a phylogenetic analysis of HIV-1 pol sequences derived from 3670 patients followed at 50 Italian clinical centres over nearly three decades. RESULTS: Overall, 417 patients (11.4%) carried non-B subtypes. The prevalence of non-B strains increased from 2.6% in 1980-1992 to 18.9% in 1993-2008 (P<0.0001) in a subset of 2479 subjects with a known year of diagnosis. A multivariate analysis on a subset of 1364 patients for whom relevant demog...