Global Health and Tropical Medicine-GHTM, Institute for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, UNL, Lisbon, Portugal.
Molecular Biology and Immunology Department, Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia (FIDIC); Basic Sciences Department, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 26;8(1):1702. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-19080-5.
Since HIV-1 treatment is increasingly considered an effective preventionstrategy, it is important to study local HIV-1 epidemics to formulate tailored preventionpolicies. The prevalence of HIV-1 in Cyprus was historically low until 2005. To investigatethe shift in epidemiological trends, we studied the transmission dynamics of HIV-1 in Cyprususing a densely sampled Cypriot HIV-1 transmission cohort that included 85 percent ofHIV-1-infected individuals linked to clinical care between 1986 and 2012 based on detailedclinical, epidemiological, behavioral and HIV-1 genetic information. Subtyping andtransmission cluster reconstruction were performed using maximum likelihood and Bayesianmethods, and the transmission chain network was linked to the clinical, epidemiological andbehavioral data. The results reveal that for the main HIV-1 subtype A1 and B sub-epidemics,young and drug-naïve HIV-1-infected individuals in Cyprus are driving the dynamics of thelocal HIV-1 epidemic. The results of this study provide a better understanding of thedynamics of the HIV-1 infection in Cyprus, which may impact the development of preventionstrategies. Furthermore, this methodology for analyzing densely sampled transmissiondynamics is applicable to other geographic regions to implement effective HIV-1 preventionstrategies in local settings.
由于 HIV-1 治疗越来越被认为是一种有效的预防策略，因此研究当地 HIV-1 流行情况以制定有针对性的预防政策非常重要。直到 2005 年，塞浦路斯的 HIV-1 流行率一直很低。为了研究流行病学趋势的变化，我们使用一个密集采样的塞浦路斯 HIV-1 传播队列来研究 HIV-1 在塞浦路斯的传播动态，该队列包括 1986 年至 2012 年间与临床护理相关的 85%的 HIV-1 感染者，基于详细的临床、流行病学、行为和 HIV-1 遗传信息。使用最大似然法和贝叶斯方法进行亚型分类和传播簇重建，并将传播链网络与临床、流行病学和行为数据相关联。结果表明，对于主要的 HIV-1 亚型 A1 和 B 亚型流行，塞浦路斯的年轻和未使用毒品的 HIV-1 感染者正在推动当地 HIV-1 流行的动态。本研究的结果提供了对塞浦路斯 HIV-1 感染动态的更好理解，这可能会影响预防策略的制定。此外，这种用于分析密集采样传播动态的方法适用于其他地理区域，以在当地实施有效的 HIV-1 预防策略。
