CRF45_AKU, a circulating recombinant from Central Africa, is probably the common ancestor of HIV type 1 MAL and HIV type 1 NOGIL.

Abstract In this study, we characterized four HIV-1 strains from Cameroon, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), collected during independent serosurveys, and previously found to cluster in the pol gene with HIV-1 MAL and HIV-1 NOGIL3, two complex recombinant viruses reported in the early HIV epidemic, and with the recombinant strain 04FR.AUK recently described in France. The four newly sequenced viruses shared the same structure as 04FR.

Genetic characterization of eight full-length HIV type 1 genomes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reveal a new subsubtype, A5, in the A radiation that predominates in the recombinant structure of CRF26_A5U.

In this study, we characterized HIV-1 strains from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), previously described as divergent subtype A (n = 1, 97CD.KMST91) or untypable (n = 7) in the V3-V5 env region. Four strains had the same structure over the entire genome, including alternating fragments of a new subsubtype, A5, within the subtype A radiation and fragments that remain unclassified.

Characterization of an old complex circulating recombinant form, CRF27_cpx, originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and circulating in France.

Full-length genomes were characterized for two samples, 02CD-LBR024 from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 04FR-CD-KZS from France, that formed a separate subcluster with a previously characterized env subtype E isolate from DRC with a recombinant structure different from CRF01-AE. Since the three viruses are clearly epidemiologically unlinked and share the same complex recombinant structure, they represent a circulating recombinant form, designated as CRF27-cpx. The recombination pattern involves six different HIV-1 subtypes (A, E, G, H, J, and K) and a small unclassified fragment.

Distribution of HIV-1 variants in the Democratic Republic of Congo suggests increase of subtype C in Kinshasa between 1997 and 2002.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is characterized by low and stable HIV prevalences and high HIV-1 genetic diversity and is most probably the epicenter of HIV-1 group M. Our major goal was to study the distribution of HIV-1 variants over a 5-year period against a background of political instability and civil war. A total of 288 HIV-1-positive samples collected in 2002 from sentinel population groups in an HIV serosurveillance study performed in 4 cities (Kinshasa [capital city], Mbuji-Mayi [south], Lubumbashi [southeast], and Kisangani [northeast]) were genetically characterized by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the V3-V5 env region.