Jiangsu province has severe HIV-1 epidemic in China. Suqian which is located in north of the province has limited HIV epidemic information. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the epidemic details in the area. A total of 196 plasma samples were collected from treated HIV-1-positive cases and viral RNA was extracted. Then HIV partial pol genes (nucleotide 2147-3462 by using HXB2 as calibrator) were amplified and sequenced. Finally, 84 partial pol genes were successfully obtained. The subtyping results indicate that multiple HIV-1 subtypes are circulating in Suqian district. Thereinto, CRF01_AE has been the dominant stains here and belonged to multiple lineages of CRF01_AE identified in China previously. Moreover, there is a high level of HIV drug resistance. All these results suggest HIV-1 epidemic in Suqian is rather complex and more measures must be performed for prevention and intervention in the area.
Keywords: HIV; drug resistance; epidemiology; phylogenetics.