PRIMARY INFECTIONS WITH HIV-1 OF WOMEN AND THEIR OFFSPRING IN RWANDA - FINDINGS OF HETEROGENEITY AT SEROCONVERSION, COINFECTION, AND RECOMBINANTS OF HIV-1 SUBTYPE-A AND SUBTYPE-C

Variation in HIV-1 genomic RNA was studied in seroconversion samples f rom mother-child pairs from a Rwandan cohort. The mothers (n = 8) were heterosexually infected and their children (n = 6) were vertically in fected by breast milk. Five of the children seroconverted within the s ame 8-month period as did their mothers. Highly homogeneous subtype A Vs and p17(gag) sequence populations were observed in three mother-chi ld pairs, one of the two nontransmitting mothers, and one child (mean nucleotide distances 0 to 0.9%). Heterogeneous populations of subtype A vs and p17(gag) sequences were found in one mother and a mother-chil d pair (1.4 to 2.8% for V3, 1.0 to 1.9% for p17). The second nontransm itting mother was infected with a heterogeneous A(V1-V3)/C-p17-p24 rec ombinant virus population (3.8% for vs, 2.4% for p17). Finally, in one woman subtype C V3 sequences were observed, in addition to highly hom ogeneous subtype A V3 and p17(gag) sequence populations, also found in the child. Coexistence of subtype A(V1-V3) and C-V1-V3 env sequences in the mother was confirmed in a followup sample. The gag gene of both the maternal and the child's Virus population represented an A/C reco mbinant sequence (A(p17)/C-p24). An infection with subtype C-V1-V3/p17 -p24 was found upon testing of three additional participants of the mo ther-child cohort, indicating that subtype C is present in Rwanda. In conclusion, heterogeneity, coinfection, and intersubtype recombinants are not uncommon in primary HIV-1 infections in Rwanda. (C) 1997 Acade mic Press