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Tracing the impact of public health interventions on HIV-1 transmission in Portugal using molecular epidemiology

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Estimation of temporal changes in HIV transmission patterns can help to elucidate the impact of preventative strategies and public health policies.

METHODS: Portuguese HIV-1 subtype B and G pol genetic sequences were appended to global reference datasets to identify country-specific transmission clades. Bayesian birth-death models were used to estimate subtype-specific effective reproductive numbers (Re). Discrete trait analysis (DTA) was used to quantify mixing among transmission groups. RESULTS:We identified five subtype B Portuguese clades (n=26-79 sequences) and a large monophyletic subtype G Portuguese clade (n=236). We estimated that major shifts in HIV-1 transmission occurred around 1999 (95% Bayesian credible interval 1998-2000) and 2000 (1998-2001) for subtypes B and G, respectively. For subtype B, Re dropped from 1.91 (1.73-2.09) to 0.62 (0.52-0.72). For subtype G, Re decreased from 1.49 (1.39-1.59) to 0.72 (0.63-0.8). The DTA suggests that people who inject drugs (PWID) and heterosexuals were at the source of most (>80%) virus lineage transitions for subtypes G and B, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The estimated declines in Re coincide with the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy and the scale-up of harm reduction for PWID. Inferred transmission events across transmission groups emphasize the importance of prevention efforts for bridging populations.

Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0003-1937-0506


Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Journal:
Journal of Infectious Diseases More from this journal
Volume:
15
Issue:
2019
Pages:
89-102
Publication date:
2019-02-26
Acceptance date:
2019-02-21
DOI:
EISSN:
1537-6613
ISSN:
0022-1899
Pmid:
30805610


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
pubs:980241
UUID:
uuid:fc2ff44f-b816-4c31-9830-eb2f3352219a
Local pid:
pubs:980241
Deposit date:
2019-04-25

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