HIV Pretreatment Drug Resistance and Transmission Clusters among Newly Diagnosed Patients in the China-Myanmar Border Region, 2020-2023.

Huan LIU; Yue Cheng YANG; Xing DUAN; Yi Chen JIN; Yan Fen CAO; Yi FENG; Chang CAI; He He ZHAO; Hou Lin TANG

Return

HIV Pretreatment Drug Resistance and Transmission Clusters among Newly Diagnosed Patients in the China-Myanmar Border Region, 2020-2023.

Author: Huan LIU ¹ ; Yue Cheng YANG ² ; Xing DUAN ² ; Yi Chen JIN ¹ ; Yan Fen CAO ² ; Yi FENG ¹ ; Chang CAI ¹ ; He He ZHAO ¹ ; Hou Lin TANG ¹
Author Information

1. National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China;National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China.
2. Department of STD/AIDS Prevention and Control, Dehong Prefecture Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Mangshi 678499, Yunnan, China.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Cluster analysis; Drug resistance; HIV; Subtype
MeSH: Humans; HIV Infections/virology*; China/epidemiology*; Drug Resistance, Viral; Male; Adult; Female; Middle Aged; HIV-1/genetics*; Anti-HIV Agents/therapeutic use*; Myanmar/epidemiology*; Young Adult; Prevalence; Adolescent; Mutation
From: Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2025;38(7):840-847
CountryChina
Language:English
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HIV pretreatment drug resistance (PDR) and the transmission clusters associated with PDR-related mutations in newly diagnosed, treatment-naive patients between 2020 and 2023 in Dehong prefecture, Yunnan province, China.
METHODS:Demographic information and plasma samples were collected from study participants. PDR was assessed using the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database. The Tamura-Nei 93 model within HIV-TRACE was employed to compute pairwise matches with a genetic distance of 0.015 substitutions per site.
RESULTS:Among 948 treatment-naive individuals with eligible sequences, 36 HIV subtypes were identified, with unique recombinant forms (URFs) being the most prevalent (18.8%, 178/948). The overall prevalence of PDR was 12.4% (118/948), and resistance to non-nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), and protease inhibitors (PIs) was 10.7%, 1.3%, and 1.6%, respectively. A total of 91 clusters were identified, among which eight showed evidence of PDR strain transmission. The largest PDR-associated cluster consisted of six CRF01_AE drug-resistant strains carrying K103N and V179T mutations; five of these individuals had initial CD4+ cell counts < 200 cells/μL.
CONCLUSION:The distribution of HIV subtypes in Dehong is diverse and complex. PDR was moderately prevalent (12.4%) between 2020 and 2023. Evidence of transmission of CRF01_AE strains carrying K103N and V179T mutations was found. Routine surveillance of PDR and the strengthening of control measures are essential to limit the spread of drug-resistance HIV strains.