HIV-2 GENETIC-VARIATION AND DNA LOAD IN ASYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS AND AIDS CASES IN GUINEA-BISSAU

The purpose of this study was to document which genetic subtypes of HI V-2 are present in Guinea-Bissau and to investigate whether asymptomat ic HIV-2 carriers and AIDS patients carry distinct genetic variants. A secondary aim was to correlate proviral DNA load to clinical and immu nologic status of the patients. Thirty eight asymptomatic HIV-2 carrie rs and 11 AIDS patients from Bissau, Guinea-Bissau were included in a cross-sectional study in which HIV-2 env V3 sequences, HIV-2 DNA load, and CD4-positive (CD4(+)) lymphocyte counts were determined. Phylogen etic analyses showed that all investigated subjects carried subtype A HIV-2 variants and that the sequences from AIDS patients and asymptoma tic carriers did not form distinct subclusters in the tree. As expecte d, patients with AIDS had significantly higher median HIV-2 DNA load t han did asymptomatic carriers (4.6 vs. 2.0 log(10) HIV-2 DNA copies/10 (6) CD4(+) lymphocytes). Our study indicates that the HIV-2 epidemic i n Guinea-Bissau is almost exclusively caused by subtype A HIV-2 varian ts and that the HIV-2 infections among the asymptomatic carriers and A IDS cases included in the study do not have distinct epidemiologic his tories.