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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Virology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1520864
The changing molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in Liangshan Prefecture, China, in 2021-2023
Provisionally accepted
Rong Pei 1,2 Ling Su 3 Chunnong Jike 4 Gang Yu 4 Ju Wang 4 Lin Xiao 4 Yubing Wang 4 Maogang Shen 4
Chang Zhou 3 Jiayi Liao 2 Yulian Zhang 2 Yifei Zheng 2
Joris Hemelaar 1*- 1 University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- 2 Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 3 Sichuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 4 Liangshan Prefecture Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xichang, Sichuan, China
Liangshan Prefecture is one of the areas in China most severely affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but little is known about the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in this area. We aimed to analyse the distribution of HIV-1 genetic variants in Liangshan Prefecture in recent years. 8,523 blood samples were collected from people living with HIV with treatment failure and newly diagnosed individuals in all 17 counties and cities in Liangshan Prefecture between 2021 and 2023. The majority of study participants were male (66%), farmers (78%) and illiterate (53%). The main HIV-1 transmission routes were heterosexual contact (57%) and injecting drug use (27%). Among the 6,298 successfully obtained pol sequences the following HIV-1 variants were identified: CRF07_BC (93.9%), CRF08_BC (3.3%), CRF01_AE (1.4%), URFs (0.9%), CRF105_0108 (0.1%), CRF55_01B (0.1%), subtype B (0.1%), subtype C (0.1%), CRF88_BC (0.1%), CRF83_cpx (0.1%), CRF85_BC (0.03%), CRF67_01B (0.02%), CRF77_cpx (0.02%), and subtype A (0.02%). During the study period, the proportion of CRF07_BC gradually decreased, while other HIV-1 variants increased, a shift seen across all counties in Liangshan Prefecture. Newly diagnosed patients mainly acquired HIV through heterosexual transmission (86.7%), had a lower proportion of CRF07_BC (90.9%) and higher proportion of other HIV-1 variants, compared to treatment failure patients. Future prevention and control policies need to take these changes into account.
Keywords: HIV-1, Molecular Epidemiology, Circulating recombinant forms, subtype, Unique Recombinant Forms
Received: 31 Oct 2024; Accepted: 28 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pei, Su, Jike, Yu, Wang, Xiao, Wang, Shen, Zhou, Liao, Zhang, Zheng and Hemelaar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Joris Hemelaar, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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