No abstract

Contact with food animals was associated with SARS-CoV infection in the People’s Republic of China.

Objectives: Fifteen years after the roll-out of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in China, there is limited information available on transmitted HIV drug resistance (TDR). This study aimed to characterize the epidemiology of TDR in China. Design: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional observational study. Methods: We analyzed the demographic, clinical, and virological data of individuals with newly diagnosed HIV infection using data from the Beijing HIV laboratory network collected between 2001 and 2017. We did population-based sequencing of the pol gene on plasma specimens and identified TDR mutations using the WHO list for surveillance of TDR mutations. Results: Data on TDR were available for 91% of the 10 115 individuals with newly diagnosed HIV infection tested, of whom 19.2% were from rural areas. The overall prevalence of TDR was 4.1% [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.7–4.5%], with a declining trend over the period 2001–2017. In the multivariable analysis, the risk of TDR differed significantly according to sex [odds ratio (OR) for women vs. men: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.22–0.69, P = 0.002]; infection type (OR for CRF07_BC vs. CRF01_AE: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.16–0.36, P < 0.001); and sampling period (OR for 2009–2012 vs. 2001–2008: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.41–0.79; P = 0.01), and was significantly higher among individuals from Hebei province than in those from Beijing (OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.05–1.96; P = 0.02). Conclusion: In China, the prevalence of TDR among individuals with newly diagnosed HIV infection is relatively low. Trends in TDR should be assessed in other countries with a high TDR burden.

To explore the epidemic history of HIV-1 CRF01_AE in China, 408 fragments of gag gene sequences of CRF01_AE sampled in 2002–2010 were determined from different geographical regions and risk populations in China. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the CRF01_AE sequences can be grouped into four clusters, suggesting that at least four genetically independent CRF01_AE descendants are circulating in China, of which two were closely related to the isolates from Thailand and Vietnam. Cluster 1 has the most extensive distribution in China. In North China, cluster 1 and cluster 4 were mainly transmitted through homosexuality.The real substance of the recent HIV-1 epidemic in men who have sex with men(MSM) of North China is a rapid spread of CRF01_AE, or rather two distinctive natives CRF01_AE.The time of the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of four CRF01_AE clusters ranged from the years 1990.9 to 2003.8 in different regions of China. This is the first phylogenetic and temporal dynamics study of HIV-1 CRF01_AE in China.