Early changes in quasispecies repertoire in HIV-infected infants: Correlation with disease progression

The evolution of HIV-1 quasispecies in patients during the first year of li fe was investigated in 10 vertically infected infants, using heteroduplex a nalysis of the V3-V5 region of env. Four subjects, who showed little viral evolution during the period of the study, had rapid progression of disease and early loss of CD4(+) cells. The remaining six subjects, who were slow p rogressors, evolved new viral variants within 6 months, and in one case by 1 month of age. Of the four patients who were PCR positive at birth, one wa s infected with multiple HIV-1 variants. These results show that in HIV-inf ected children, multiple variants may initiate infection and early quasispe cies diversification is associated with a favorable clinical outcome.