TY - JOUR
T1 - Diverse HCV Strains And HIV URFS Identified Amongst People Who Inject Drugs In India
AU - Rodgers, Mary A.
AU - Gomathi, Selvamurthi
AU - Vallari, Ana
AU - Saravanan, Shanmugam
AU - Lucas, Gregory M.
AU - Mehta, Shruti
AU - Solomon, Sunil S.
AU - Cloherty, Gavin A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by Abbott Laboratories and the National Institute On Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (R01DA032059, R01DA041034, K24DA035684). Additional support was provided by the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research (P30AI094189) and by the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Funding Information:
M.A.R., A.V., and G.A.C. are employees and shareholders of Abbott Laboratories. This study was partially funded by Abbott Laboratories. S.G., S.S., G.M.L., S.M., and S.S.S. declare no competing interests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Although the prevalences of HIV and HCV are significantly higher amongst PWID in India compared to the general population, the strains circulating within this group have not been well-characterized. Through subgenomic sequencing of viruses present in residual plasma from an HIV/HCV prevalence study conducted amongst PWID across five cities in India in 2016–2017, a total of N = 498 HCV and N = 755 HIV strains were classified from N = 975 study participants. Considerable HCV diversity was identified, with different strains predominating in each region of the country. Overall, the most common strain was genotype 3a (39.0%), with genotypes 1a (26.9%), 1b (3.0%), 1c (0.2%), 3b (20.7%), 3i (2.0%), 4a (0.2%), 4d (1.0%), 6 (1.8%), 6n (4.8%), 6 v (0.2%) and one unclassifiable recombinant specimen (0.2%) also identified. The majority of the HIV specimens were subtype C (96.7%), although subtype A (0.4%), CRF01_AE (0.4%) and unique recombinant forms (URFs, 2.5%) were also detected. Notably, the geographical restriction of HIV subtype A and CRF01_AE, and HCV genotypes 4 and 6 to specific sites suggests distinct novel introductions of HIV and HCV into PWID populations, potentially via drug trafficking routes from neighboring countries where these strains are common.
AB - Although the prevalences of HIV and HCV are significantly higher amongst PWID in India compared to the general population, the strains circulating within this group have not been well-characterized. Through subgenomic sequencing of viruses present in residual plasma from an HIV/HCV prevalence study conducted amongst PWID across five cities in India in 2016–2017, a total of N = 498 HCV and N = 755 HIV strains were classified from N = 975 study participants. Considerable HCV diversity was identified, with different strains predominating in each region of the country. Overall, the most common strain was genotype 3a (39.0%), with genotypes 1a (26.9%), 1b (3.0%), 1c (0.2%), 3b (20.7%), 3i (2.0%), 4a (0.2%), 4d (1.0%), 6 (1.8%), 6n (4.8%), 6 v (0.2%) and one unclassifiable recombinant specimen (0.2%) also identified. The majority of the HIV specimens were subtype C (96.7%), although subtype A (0.4%), CRF01_AE (0.4%) and unique recombinant forms (URFs, 2.5%) were also detected. Notably, the geographical restriction of HIV subtype A and CRF01_AE, and HCV genotypes 4 and 6 to specific sites suggests distinct novel introductions of HIV and HCV into PWID populations, potentially via drug trafficking routes from neighboring countries where these strains are common.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41598-020-64309-5
DO - 10.1038/s41598-020-64309-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 32350342
AN - SCOPUS:85083958889
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 10
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 7214
ER -