Genetic subtypes of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1
(HIV-1): focus on the United States
Almost all of the HIV-1 in the United States and Europe is subtype B. The
first reports of African subtypes entering the US appeared in November
1995:
HIV-1 SUBTYPES A, D, and E IN US MILITARY
Reported by Brodine
et al., Lancet 346(8984), 1198-1199
(1995).
HIV-1 SUBTYPE A IN LOS ANGELES: February 1996
"Surveillance of HIV-1 Subtypes in 222 U.S. Blood Donors:
Identification
of First U.S. Subtype A Infection." R. Diaz, M. Sullivan, A. Williams,
E. Lackritz, D. Kessler, E. Operskalskki, J. Mosley and M. Busch.
Irwin Blood Centers, San Francisco, California; ARC Holland Lab,
Rockville, Maryland; U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia;
NY Blood Center, New York, New York; TSS/USC, Los Angeles, California.
According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the 3rd Conference on
Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held January 28 - February 1,
1996, in Washington, DC.
Background: Failure of anti-HIV assays to
detect variant HIV subtypes (eg, HIV-1 group O) necessitates surveillance
for rare subtypes among US donors. To date, all HIV-1 characterized in the
US is subtype B, except one case of subtype D.
Methods:
DNA was extracted from leukocytes from 100 donors identified in 1984 and
122 donors from 1994. A region of gp120 was amplified by nested PCR...
A WOMAN INFECTED WITH HIV-1 SUBTYPE O IN LOS ANGELES
Newsflash July 5, 1996...
"Rare Form of AIDS Virus Found in California Woman; Changes in
Testing Vowed" Washington
Post (07/05/96) P. A7, Stolberg, Sheryl
Federal health officials report that a Los Angeles woman has been
identified as the first person in the
United States to carry HIV Group O, a rare strain of the virus that
is more commonly found in West
Africa, where the woman is from. Existing tests for HIV detect
Group O about 80 percent of the time,
and the woman, who has not been identified, repeatedly tested
HIV-negative with various assays. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug
Administration emphasized that
the rare strain poses very little threat to the blood supply. They
noted, however, that HIV tests should
be reconfigured to better detect Group O. The woman appears to have
been infected in her homeland
and was identified months ago during a records search that was
initiated after Group O appeared in
Europe. Still, the discovery was somewhat accidental, as the woman
had been listed as an HIV carrier
even though her tests had come back negative. The CDC issued a
public report of its finding on
Thursday, describing the discovery as an indication that Group O
could become a public health
problem in the future. Officials at the agency say they plan to
present the findings in a "late-breaking
presentation" at the 11th International AIDS Conference in
Vancouver, British Columbia, which is set
to begin this weekend.
and...
First Known U.S. Case of Rare AIDS Strain Found in Los Angeles"
Wall Street Journal (07/08/96)
A rare strain of HIV, called Group O, was found in a U.S. patient
for the first time, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reported last week. The strain had
previously been reported in West
and Central Africa, France, Belgium, and Germany only. The patient,
located in Los Angeles, is a
native of West Africa, and the CDC believes that she became
infected before she came to the United
States. The agency said the U.S. blood supply is still safe,
because most group O strains are detected
by test kits currently used to screen blood.
SUBTYPE E REPORTED IN THE UNITED STATES
TRANSMISSION OF HIV-1 SUBTYPE-E IN THE UNITED-STATES
AUTHOR(S): ARTENSTEIN AW; OHL CA; VANCOTT TC; HEGERICH PA; MASCOLA JR
JOURNAL: JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, V0276 N2,
JUL 10 1996, pp. 99-100.
HIV-1 SUBTYPE C REPORTED IN BRONX, NEW YORK
Then, in July 1996, Kathleen
Irwin of the CDC
reported at the XI
International
Conference on AIDS in Vancouver that subtypes A and C were found in a
population at a community hospital in the the Bronx, New York.
Listed as Abstract We.C.345
.
First report of subtype C in the United States...