Surveillance of subtype and genetic variation of the circulating strains of HIV-1 in Thailand.

Two HIV-1 strains, CRF01_AE and subtype B', were reported in Thailand during the early years of the epidemic. Recently, an intersubtype recombination of HIV-1 strain was found in Thailand. Eight-hundred and twenty-eight samples collected during years 1995-2004 from high-risk groups in Bangkok, northern, northeastern, and southern region of Thailand were studied.

HIV-1 drug resistance in Thailand: before and after National Access to Antiretroviral Program.

Background: The Ministry of Public Health (Thailand), MoPH, has had a program called National Access to Antiretroviral Program for People who have AIDS (PHA) or "NAPHA", to offer free antiretroviral drugs (ARV), which are locally produced in Thailand, to any HIV-1 infected patients with CD4<200 since 2002. This program may increase usage of ARV therapy and the emergence of HIV-1 drug resistance.

Objectives: To monitor HIV-1 ARV drug resistant codon mutation in Thailand before and after the "NAPHA" program.

Diversity of HIV-1 subtype E in semen and cervicovaginal secretion.

Objectives: To characterize human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype E variants in blood and genital fluid of infected Thai couples.

Study Design/methods: Blood and genital fluid were collected from 30 asymptomatic healthy HIV-1 subtype E infected couples from Bangkok, Thailand from 1995 to 1998.

Results: All 60 viruses in blood samples were identified as subtype E by heteroduplex mobility assay.

Shedding of HIV-1 subtype E in semen and cervico-vaginal fluid.

The uneven expansion of HIV-1 subtypes in each transmitted group raises the possibility that some viruses have less/more potential by qualitative/quantitative for heterosexual transmission compared to others. In Thailand, HIV-1 subtype E is mainly spread via heterosexual route and accounts for about 95 per cent of the infected cases. To determine whether high sexual infectivity of HIV-1 subtype E is due to the presence of a virus in genital fluid, we conducted a study to characterize shedding of HIV-1 in seminal and cervico-vaginal fluids of 30 HIV-1 subtype E infected Thai couples by PCR and virus isolation methods.