[Type 2 human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV-2) in Spain: analysis of the first 50 cases. Spanish Group for the Study of HIV-2].

BACKGROUND

Infection by the human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) is endemic in West Africa where it is responsible for many AIDS cases. HIV-2 has been described in subjects in other countries, mainly in African immigrants, although it may also be found in natives. The first cases of HIV-2 infection were identified in Spain in 1988.

METHODS

The clinical, epidemiologic and virologic characteristics of the subjects with HIV-2 infection identified in Spain up to November 1994 are described.

RESULTS

Fifty people have been diagnosed with HIV-2 infection, being found mainly around the large urban centers (20 cases in Madrid and 16 in Barcelona). All the cases were African immigrants except for 10 Spaniards (20%), 6 of whom had acquired the infection in endemic areas while the other 4 (one prostitute from Barcelona and 3 bisexual males from Guipúzcoa) had acquired the infection in Spain. Heterosexual transmission was implicated in all the cases except in 6 subjects (4 bisexual males, one case of probable intravenous transmission and one vertically infected child). Eight (all Spanish) patients have developed AIDS and 5 have died to date. At least 10 other subjects have a CD4+ lymphocyte count lower than 0.2 x 10(9)/l, one being the only pediatric patient (6-year-old male).

CONCLUSIONS

HIV-2 infection is present in Spain, although there is no evidence for a rapid dissemination of the virus outside the collective of African immigrants. The Spaniards with HIV-2 infection represent 20% of the cases having contracted the virus through sexual relations with natives from endemic areas.