Diverse forms of HIV-1 among Burmese long-distance truck drivers imply their contribution to HIV-1 cross-border transmission

BACKGROUND: The China-Myanmar border is a particularly interesting region that has very high prevalence of and considerable diversity of HIV-1 recombinants. Due to the transient nature of their work, long-distance truck drivers (LDTDs) have a comparatively high potential to become infected with HIV-1 and further spread virus to other individuals in the area they travel within. In this study, we hypothesized that Burmese LDTDs crossing the China-Myanmar border frequently may potentially be involved in the cross-border transmission of HIV, and contribute to the extremely high prevalence of HIV-1 inter-subtype recombinants in this border region. METHODS: A molecular epidemiology study was conducted among 105 Burmese LDTDs between 2008 and 2010. HIV-1 genetic fragments including p17, pol, vif-vpr, vpr-env, and C2V3 were amplified and sequenced. The subtype characterization and HIV-1 transmission were determined by both phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses. RESULTS: Diverse forms of HIV-1, including subtypes CRF01_AE (41.9%), C (8.6%), B (4.8%), CRF02_AG (1.0%), and inter-subtype recombinants (33.3%), as well as dual infection (10.5%), were detected among the tested LDTDs. Phylogeographic analyses based on pure subtype revealed that 77.8% Burmese LDTDs acquired HIV-1 infection in Yunnan, and the others in Myanmar. Both the C-related and CRF01_AE-related recombinants from these LDTDs appeared to have close genetic relationship with those from IDUs in Myanmar and Dehong. CONCLUSIONS: Burmese LDTDs may contribute to HIV-1 transmission along the China-Myanmar border. The results may provide some new perspective for understanding the on-going generation and prevalence of HIV-1 recombinants in the border region. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-463) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.