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Review
. 2022 Sep 19;14(9):2081.
doi: 10.3390/v14092081.

Romania, a Harbour of HIV-1 Subtype F1: Where Are We after 33 Years of HIV-1 Infection?

Mădălina Preda  1   2 , Loredana Cornelia Sabina Manolescu  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Romania, a Harbour of HIV-1 Subtype F1: Where Are We after 33 Years of HIV-1 Infection?

Mădălina Preda et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been a major public health concern worldwide for more than 30 years, including in Romania. The F1 HIV-1 subtype was exported from Angola to Romania most probably because of the two countries' close political connections. Patients infected with HIV-1 via re-used and improperly sterilized injection equipment and through transfusions of unscreened blood, also known as the "Romanian cohort", were the most common type of HIV-1 infection in Romania in the early 1990s, when the virus's presence was recognized. Recently, subtype B started to increase in our country, mostly diagnosed in people using intravenous drugs or in men having sex with men. The evolution of the HIV-1 infection in Romania has been unique, with a dominance of the subtype F1, making it different from other countries in Europe.

Keywords: HIV-1 infection in Romania; HIV/AIDS; subtype F1.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Transmission routes of HIV-1, in 2021, in Romania.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Evolution of the number of cases in Romania as compared with Europe (image created using the Surveillance Atlas of Infectious Diseases, ECDC [25]).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Phylogenetic analysis of the pol gene of HIV-1 subtype F1 strains circulating in Angola, Brazil, Romania, the DRC, and Belgium (linked to the DRC) (image source: [4]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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