July 2006
Lin HH, Gaschen BK, Collie M, et al.; J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2006;41:399
Commentary:
This is a report from Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the New York State Department of Health. The goal of the study was to determine HIV subtype distribution for immigrants living in New York City, which has the greatest number of reported AIDS cases for any city in the US and the city that has the largest immigrant population. For example, it is noted that the 2000 census showed New York City to have over two million immigrants who account for 28% of the total population. The study was based on analysis of proviral DNA to determine site subtype distribution for HIV-1-positive patients who were born outside the US. The results are in the following table which shows the subtype B was the dominant strain, but subtype A accounted for about 27% and other subtypes accounted for about 15%: | Subtype | Number | Comment | | A | 54 | 50/54 from Africa | | B | 111 | 43/111 from S. America;
32 from Africa | | C | 8 | 8/8 from Africa | | D | 1 | | | F-I | 4 | from Africa | | G | 2 | | | H | 1 | | | J | 1 | | | CRF or AE | 5 | 4/5 from Asia | | CRF 06-cpx | 9 | 6/9 from Africa; 3 from S. America | | Total | 196 | |
The authors conclude that the presence of substantial numbers of non-B subtype viruses in New York City residents may have important implications for diagnostic testing, blood donor screening, antiretroviral therapy and vaccine development. Literature Review by John G. Barlett, M.D. Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases Return to Literature Review main page | 
