HIV Infection and Protease Genetic Diversity in a Rural Area of the Southern Central African Republic

Thirty-eight of 175 (21.7%) consecutive women of childbearing age from a rural area near Bangassou were tested HIV-positive. Ten protease and two protease/reverse transcriptase sequences (31.5% samples) were obtained. Eight sequences clustered into subtype J, A, G; two sequences were 13_cpx recombinant forms and two were indeterminate. The high proportion of HIV found suggests a recent outbreak of diversified HIV strains.