Transmissibility and disease progression in groups of individuals infected with different HIV-1 subtypes in Cuba

The aim of our study was to compare the frequency of clinical outcomes and viral transmission and to evaluate possible HIV-1 subtype associations. The patients were classified in two groups; subtype B and non B subtype, it included 245 and 155 HIV-1 infected individuals respectively. Two different methods of HIV subtyping were applied: DNA sequencing in the C2-V3 env region and heteroduplex mobility assay env / gag (HMA). Clinical progression was measured as time from probable date of infection to AIDS development or death. A prospective follow-up of uninfected sexual contacts of known infected persons was performed. In subtype B the rate of infected secondary cases was higher than the proportion of infected sexual contacts of HIV-1 non B subtype (13,8 % and 9,5 %, respectively) p = 0,006. The clinical follow-up shows that AIDS-free survival curves did not have significant variation between different HIV-1 subtypes. However, a further prospective cohort study is clearly needed to better evaluate the role of viral subtype differences in HIV-1 infected Cuban patients.