MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HIV IN ISRAEL

The aim of this study was to identify the HIV types and subtypes preva lent in Israel among different populations in terms of risk or geograp hic origin of the HIV infection. A total of 149 blood samples were col lected from HIV-positive persons from different risk groups for HIV in fection who were living in Israel. HIV subtyping was performed by a V3 -based peptide enzyme immunoassay, supplemented by direct sequencing o f polymerase chain reaction products from the V3 region. Multiple HIV- 1 subtypes were shown to circulate in Israel; whereas most of the infe ctions among Israelis and Palestinians were of subtype B, infections a mong the large Ethiopian population in Israel were caused by HIV-1 sub type C. Occasionally, we found HIV-1 subtypes A and D and a putative B /C recombinant. No HIV-2 infection was identified. Sequence comparison s and phylogenetic tree analyses point at multiple introductions of HI V into the country. The presence of mainly two different HIV-1 subtype s, B and C, in two separated populations in Israel may result in two d istinct epidemiologic patterns among HIV-infected individuals in Israe l. Subtype C infection among the Ethiopians in Israel opens new resear ch avenues toward better understanding the natural history of infectio n with HIV-1 subtype C in Ethiopians living in a Western society compa red with those living in Ethiopia.