HIV-2 integrase variation in integrase inhibitor-naïve adults in Senegal, West Africa.

Background: Antiretroviral therapy for HIV-2 infection is hampered by intrinsic resistance to many of the drugs used to treat HIV-1. Limited studies suggest that the integrase inhibitors (INIs) raltegravir and elvitegravir have potent activity against HIV-2 in culture and in infected patients. There is a paucity of data on genotypic variation in HIV-2 integrase that might confer intrinsic or transmitted INI resistance.

Emergence of multiclass drug-resistance in HIV-2 in antiretroviral-treated individuals in Senegal: implications for HIV-2 treatment in resouce-limited West Africa.

Background: The efficacy of various antiretroviral (ARV) therapy regimens for human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) infection remains unclear. HIV-2 is intrinsically resistant to the nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors and to enfuvirtide and may also be less susceptible than HIV-1 to some protease inhibitors (PIs). However, the mutations in HIV-2 that confer ARV resistance are not well characterized.

Characteristics and presenting complaints of outpatients with undiagnosed HIV infection: potential utility in selecting subjects for HIV testing.

HIV testing of individuals presenting to outpatient medical clinics has generally been based upon a selection system, with testing limited to those having signs or symptoms previously found associated with HIV-1 infection among hospitalized patients. However, little is known about the efficacy of this approach, particularly in Africa. Among patients presenting to a large outpatient infectious disease clinic in Dakar, Senegal, the utility of using specific demographic and behavioral characteristics and individual presenting complaints to identify individuals with previously undiagnosed HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection was examined.

Proximate and ultimate causes of reproductive suppression among female yellow baboons at Mikumi National Park, Tanzania.

Attack coalitions, whereby two or more individuals attack another animal simultaneously, were studied in 53 sexually mature female baboons from one small and two large troops at Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. For 14 months, three observers recorded coalition behavior throughout the day, using focal group sampling on a behavior-dependent basis. Coalition rates were considerably greater in the two large troops than in the small troop, and primarily involved natal females rather than males.