Temporal trends and molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 infection in Taiwan from 1988 to 1998

Eight hundred and seventy-nine HIV-1-infected patients (comprising 46% of r eported HIV-1/AIDS cases in Taiwan) were recruited for this study of the mo lecular epidemiology of HIV-I in Taiwan from 1988 to 1998. HIV-1 subtypes w ere determined using a modified peptide-enzyme immunoassay complemented wit h DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Of the 807 HIV-1 infected men, 68.2% were infected with HIV-1B, 29.5% with HIV-1 circulating recombinant f orm (CRF)01_AE and 2.3% with other subtypes. Of the 72 HIV-1-infected women , 72.2% were infected with HIV-1 CRF01_AE, 13.9% with HIV-1B, and 13.9% wit h other subtypes. All of 8 foreign-born, Southeast Asian women and 6 of 7 ( 85.7%) Taiwan-native female commercial sex workers were infected with HIV-1 CRF01_AE. Fourteen of the 33 (42.4%) heterosexual married men with CRF01_A E had transmitted HIV-1 to their wives, whereas only 1 of 17 (5.9%) men wit h HIV-1 B had transmitted HIV-1 to their spouses (p < .01). Of 18 heterosex ual male injecting drug users, 1 of 12 (8.5%) with HIV-1B and 5 of 6 (83.3% ) with HIV-1 CRF01_AE had had sexual contact with female commercial sex wor kers (p < .01). Therefore, in this population. CRF01_AE was preferentially associated with heterosexual risk groups, a finding compatible with differe nces in transmission capability between B and non-B subtypes.