Short Communication: Molecular Epidemiology of HIV Type 1 in the Republic of Dagestan, Russian Federation: Virtually Uniform Circulation of Subtype A, Former Soviet Union Variant, with Predominance of the V77IPR Subvariant

Abstract We examine the distribution of viral genetic forms and the presence of antiretroviral drug resistance mutations in HIV-1 infections in the Republic of Dagestan, in the North Caucasus area of Russia, where a recent large increase in HIV-1 infections has been documented. Samples were collected from 41 HIV-1-infected individuals from Dagestan, most of them from the cities of Derbent (n = 21) and Mahachkala (n = 18). Thirty six were injecting drug users and five were infected by heterosexual contact. None was on antiretroviral drug treatment. HIV-1 protease and a segment of reverse transcriptase were amplified by RT-PCR from plasma RNA and sequenced, and phylogenetic trees were constructed via maximum likelihood. Forty (97.6%) of 41 samples were of subtype A, former Soviet Union variant (AFSU), of which 27 (67.5%) clustered with the subvariant containing the V77I substitution in protease (V77IPR). Within this cluster, 13 viruses formed a local subcluster, 10 of which were from Derbent. Four viruses c...