Molecular Epidemiologic Characteristics of HIV-1 cases diagnosed in Mongolia between 1997 and 2016

Abstract

Information on molecular epidemiology of Mongolian HIV cases only available for 1997-2009 and 2005-2016 timeframe. There is no specific information available for 1997-2016 on HIV-1 molecular epidemiology. Thus, we investigated subtype distribution and population group involvement and did phylogenetic tree analysis on the information of 160 HIV-1 cases diagnosed between 1997-2016 in Mongolia. Subtype B was dominant with 66.6%. CRF51_01B was 13.8% and CRF02_AG was 10.1%. CRF01_AE, A, C and G subtypes also present in Mongolia. On phylogenetic tree, two main clusters determined, one for subtype B – Cluster 1, another one for subtype CRF51_01B – Cluster 2. Among gay and bisexual male participants, 83% had subtype B infection and 16% had subtype CRF51_01B infection. This related higher percentage of this population group in the clusters (79.6% in Cluster 1 and 81.8% in Cluster 2). HIV-1 subtype distribution differs by sexual orientation groups and the difference is statistically significant (Х2=134.20 бa df=7; p<0.0005).