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BackgroundDrug-resistant minority variants (DRMinVs) detected in patients who recently acquired human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) can be transmitted, generated de novo through virus replication, or technical errors. The first form is likely to persist and result in treatment failure, while the latter two could be stochastic and transient.MethodsUltradeep sequencing of plasma samples from 835 individuals with recent HIV-1 infection in the United Kingdom was performed to detect DRMinVs at a mutation frequency between 2% and 20%. Sequence alignments including >110 000 HIV-1 partial pol consensus sequences from the UK HIV Drug Resistance Database (UK-HDRD), linked to epidemiological and clinical data from the HIV and AIDS Reporting System, were used for transmission cluster analysis. Transmission clusters were identified using Cluster Picker with a clade support of >90% and maximum genetic distances of 4.5% or 1.5%, the latter to limit detection to likely direct transmission events.ResultsDrug-resistant majority variants (DRMajVs) were detected in 66 (7.9%) and DRMinVs in 84 (10.1%) of the recently infected individuals. High levels of clustering to sequences in UK-HDRD were observed for both DRMajV (n = 48; 72.7%) and DRMinV (n = 63; 75.0%) sequences. Of these, 43 (65.2%) with DRMajVs were in a transmission cluster with sequences that harbored the same DR mutation compared to only 3 (3.6%) sequences with DRMinVs (P < .00001, Fisher exact test). Evidence of likely direct transmission of DRMajVs was observed for 25/66 (37.9%), whereas none were observed for the DRMinVs (P < .00001).ConclusionsUsing a densely sampled HIV-infected population, we show no evidence of DRMinV transmission among recently infected individuals.

Original publication

DOI

10.1093/cid/ciy1048

Type

Journal article

Journal

Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America

Publication Date

09/2019

Volume

69

Pages

1136 - 1143

Addresses

National Infection Service, Public Health England, London, United Kingdom.

Keywords

UK HIV Drug Resistance Database, Humans, HIV-1, HIV Infections, Anti-HIV Agents, Prevalence, Cluster Analysis, Risk Factors, Phylogeny, Drug Resistance, Viral, Genotype, Mutation, Female, Male, Genetic Variation, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Mutation Rate, Public Health Surveillance, United Kingdom