Characterization of HIV-1 subtypes and transmitted drug resistance among treatment-naive HIV-infected individuals in Zhejiang, China, 2014-2017

In recent years, transmitted drug resistance (TDR) has adversely impacted upon first-line therapy for HIV-infected individuals. To understand the current subtype distribution and TDR level in Zhejiang, China we performed phylogenetic analysis and genotypic drug resistance testing of treatment-naive HIV-infected individuals. A total of 153 HIV-1 Pol genes were successfully amplified. The distribution of HIV-1 genotypes was as follows: CRF01_AE (43.8%); CRF07_BC (37.9%); subtype B/B' (7.2%); CRF08_BC (5.2%); and others (5.9%). Drug resistance analysis demonstrated that 11.1% of isolates contained at least one NRTI or NNRTI resistance-associated mutations while 2.0% were identified to be resistant to PIs. These findings enhance our understanding of the genetic diversity of HIV-1 strains circulating in Zhejiang and provide some guidelines for HIV initial treatment therapy.