AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, May 9, 2005
Staff Medical Writers

According to a recently published report from Italy, "A total of 347 pol gene sequences from 88 Tuscan and 259 Apulian subjects (including 52 non-Italians and 9 children) were analyzed phylogenetically.

"Forty-four (12.6%) non-B subtypes were found, including 3.4% C, 1.4% F1, 0.8% G, and 0.3% each for J and A pure subtypes, and 3.7% CRF02_AG, 1.4% CRF01_AE, 0.6% BF, and 0.3% CRF06-cpx recombinant forms. An additional sample close-matched the pol gene of an unique recombinantform (URFAGK99GR303)."

"The nonB subtypes were from 40 adults and 4 children; 12 of these 44 patients were epidemiologically linked. Thirty-three of the 44 non-B viruses pertained to non-Italian immigrants and 11 to Italians, signifying that 63.4% immigrants and 3.7% Italians harbored non-B subtypes.

"The overall frequency of non-B subtypes was higher in Tuscany than in Apulia (18.1 vs. 10.8%). Moreover," said the authors, "6.1 and 3.0% non-B subtypes were found among Italians from Florence and Apulia, respectively, while 52.1 and 72.4% of immigrants living in Tuscany and Apulia harbored non-B subtypes."

"Women infected by means of sexual contact prevailed among non-Italian adults; the majority of Italians were males and admitted high-risk sexual behavior. Four Italians had a history of extensive travel in countries of high endemicity," reported L. Monno and colleagues at the University of Bari.

"Social and epidemiological changes are responsible for an increasing circulation of non-B subtypes in Italy. Although non-B subtypes principally infect non-Italian patients, in Italy they can no longer be considered exclusively restricted to subjects from endemic areas," researchers concluded.

Monno and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Medical Virology (HIV-1 subtypes and circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) from HIV-infected patients residing in two regions of central and southern Italy. J Med Virol. 2005 Apr;75(4):483-90.

For additional information, contact L. Monno, University Bari, Clinical Infection Diseases, Policlin, Piazza G Cesare 11, I-70124 Bari, Italy.

The publisher of the Journal of Medical Virology can be contacted at: Wiley-Liss, Division John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA.

Keywords: Bari, Italy, HIV non-B Subtype, Circulating Recombinant Forms, Epidemiology, Italy, Social Change.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Monno L, Brindicci G, Lo Caputo S, et al., HIV-1 subtypes and circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) from HIV-infected patients residing in two regions of central and southern Italy, J Med Virol. 2005 Apr;75(4):483-90.

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