AUTHOR=Bello Gonzalo , Nacher Mathieu , Divino Flavia , Darcissac Edith , Mir Daiana , Lacoste Vincent 

TITLE=The HIV-1 Subtype B Epidemic in French Guiana and Suriname Is Driven by Ongoing Transmissions of Pandemic and Non-pandemic Lineages

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01738

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.01738

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The HIV-1 subtype B epidemic in French Guiana and Suriname is characterized by the co-circulation of the globally disseminated “B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub>” lineage and of non-pandemic subtype B lineages of Caribbean origin (B<sub>CAR</sub>). To reconstruct the spatiotemporal pattern of spread of those viral lineages circulating in these two countries, a total of 361 HIV-1 subtype B <italic>pol</italic> sequences recovered from treatment-naive adult patients from French Guiana and Suriname between 2006 and 2012 were combined with B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub> and B<sub>CAR</sub> reference sequences. Major Guianese/Surinamese B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub> and B<sub>CAR</sub> lineages were identified by Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic analysis and the spatiotemporal and demographic parameters estimated using a Bayesian coalescent-based method. We detected four B<sub>CAR</sub> and three B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub> transmission chains of large size that together comprise most pandemic and non-pandemic subtype B sequences from French Guiana (≥52%) and Suriname (≥70%) here analyzed. These major lineages were probably introduced into French Guiana and Suriname from the Caribbean (B<sub>CAR</sub>) and North/South America (B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub>) between the middle 1970s and the late 1980s and spread among populations from both countries with roughly comparable demographic growth rates. We detected a significant trend for higher viral loads and higher proportion of homosexual/bisexual men among subjects infected with B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub> relative to B<sub>CAR</sub> strains in French Guiana. These results show that the HIV subtype B epidemic in French Guiana and Suriname has been driven by multiple active B<sub>CAR</sub> and B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub> transmission chains that arose since the middle 1970s onward and operate in both countries simultaneously. Although no significant differences in the epidemic potential of major B<sub>CAR</sub> and B<sub>PANDEMIC</sub> lineages were observed, relevant associations between the infecting subtype B lineage and epidemiological and clinical characteristics were detected in French Guiana.</p>