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Retrovirus infections in a sample of injecting drug users in Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil: prevalence of HIV-1 subtypes, and co-infection with HTLV-I/II.

AbstractBACKGROUND:
Retrovirus infections among injecting drug users (IDUs), a core at-risk population for both HIV-1 and HTLV-I/II infections in Brazil, were assessed within an ongoing cooperative research.
OBJECTIVE:
The study assessed the seroprevalences of HIV-1 and HTLV-I/II infections, as well as the prevalence of HIV-1 subtypes in a sample of IDUs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An attempt to evaluate HIV incidence was carried out using a dual 'sensitive/less sensitive' testing strategy.
STUDY DESIGN:
Cross-sectional evaluation of 175 IDUs. Serostatus for HIV-1 and HTLV-I/II were established by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and confirmed by western blot. The dual testing strategy aimed to estimate HIV-1 incidence rates. Differentiation between HTLV-I and -II was performed by western blot. DNA samples were polymerase chain reaction amplified by a nested protocol, and HIV-1 subtyping was determined by heteroduplex mobility assay.
RESULTS:
Forty-six and 29 samples were found to be, respectively, positive for HIV-1 and HTLV-I/II, 15 of them co-infected by both viruses. Among HTLV-I/II-infected patients, 75.9% were infected by HTLV-I. Thirty-one HIV samples were identified as B subtype, with seven of them showing the typical "Brazilian B" pattern in the gp120 V3 loop, and ten were identified as F subtype. The use of less sensitive assays for HIV infection wrongly identified a deeply immunocompromised patient as an incident case.
CONCLUSION:
Moderately high seroprevalences were found for both HIV-1 and HTLV-I/II infections, HIV-1/HTLV-I co-infections being of special concern. A non-statistically significant higher prevalence of F subtype was observed, when compared with the distribution of F/B subtypes among Brazilian patients from other exposure categories. No recent HIV-1 infections were detected, but a limitation of the "sensitive/less-sensitive" testing strategy was made evident.
AuthorsM L Guimarães, F I Bastos, P R Telles, B Galvão-Castro, R S Diaz, V Bongertz, M G Morgado
JournalJournal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology (J Clin Virol) Vol. 21 Issue 2 Pg. 143-51 (May 2001) ISSN: 1386-6532 [Print] Netherlands
PMID11378495 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
Topics
  • Adult
  • Brazil (epidemiology)
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • HIV Infections (complications, epidemiology, virology)
  • HIV Seroprevalence
  • HIV-1 (classification)
  • HTLV-I Infections (complications, epidemiology)
  • HTLV-II Infections (complications, epidemiology)
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Male
  • Substance Abuse, Intravenous (complications)

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