The emergence of HIV/AIDS in the Americas and beyond

  • M. Thomas P. Gilbert
    *Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721;
  • Andrew Rambaut
    Institute for Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, United Kingdom,;
  • Gabriela Wlasiuk
    *Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721;
  • Thomas J. Spira
    Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333; and
  • Arthur E. Pitchenik
    Department of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33125
  • Michael Worobey
    *Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721;

抄録

<jats:p>HIV-1 group M subtype B was the first HIV discovered and is the predominant variant of AIDS virus in most countries outside of sub-Saharan Africa. However, the circumstances of its origin and emergence remain unresolved. Here we propose a geographic sequence and time line for the origin of subtype B and the emergence of pandemic HIV/AIDS out of Africa. Using HIV-1 gene sequences recovered from archival samples from some of the earliest known Haitian AIDS patients, we find that subtype B likely moved from Africa to Haiti in or around 1966 (1962–1970) and then spread there for some years before successfully dispersing elsewhere. A “pandemic” clade, encompassing the vast majority of non-Haitian subtype B infections in the United States and elsewhere around the world, subsequently emerged after a single migration of the virus out of Haiti in or around 1969 (1966–1972). Haiti appears to have the oldest HIV/AIDS epidemic outside sub-Saharan Africa and the most genetically diverse subtype B epidemic, which might present challenges for HIV-1 vaccine design and testing. The emergence of the pandemic variant of subtype B was an important turning point in the history of AIDS, but its spread was likely driven by ecological rather than evolutionary factors. Our results suggest that HIV-1 circulated cryptically in the United States for ≈12 years before the recognition of AIDS in 1981.</jats:p>

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