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Epidemiology of GB virus type C among patients infected with HIV in Singapore
Author(s) -
Lee Chun Kiat,
Tang Julian WeiTze,
Chiu Lily,
Loh Tze Ping,
Olszyna Dariusz,
Chew Nicholas,
Archuleta Sophia,
Koay Evelyn SiewChuan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.23893
Subject(s) - epidemiology , virology , genotype , medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , gb virus c , virus , viral disease , molecular epidemiology , sida , flaviviridae , biology , immunology , genetics , gene
Several studies have shown that individuals co‐infected with GB virus type C (GBV‐C), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have slower progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and a prolonged lifespan, compared to those infected with only HIV. In Singapore, despite the steadily increasing number of HIV infections in recent years, there are no studies documenting the extent of GBV‐C/HIV co‐infection in this group of patients. To fill this dearth of information, two GBV‐C screening assays was performed on 80 archived HIV‐1‐positive samples from the National University Hospital. The overall prevalence of GBV‐C co‐infection among patients infected with HIV in this study was 10% (8/80). Phylogenetic analysis of the eight dual‐infection cases revealed that genotypes 3 (4/8, 50%) and 2a (2/8, 25%) were the main genotypes circulating among these Singaporean HIV patients. One case each of genotypes 2b (1/8, 12.5%) and 4 (1/8, 12.5%), which have not been described previously in Singapore, were identified. These findings hint at the complex epidemiology of GBV‐C in different patient groups and a larger study would be needed to characterize, and understand the potential clinical impact of GBV‐C co‐infection on the patients. J. Med. Virol. 86:737–744, 2014 . © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.