Molecular epidemiology of HIV among people who inject drugs after the HIV-outbreak in Athens, Greece: Evidence for a 'slow burn' outbreak

CONCLUSIONS: The substantial proportion of clustered infections (93.5%) during 2016-2019 implies a persistent 'slow burn' HIV outbreak among PWID in Athens, suggesting that the outbreak was not successfully eliminated. The consistently high proportion of clustered sequences since the onset of the outbreak suggests the persistence of ongoing HIV-1 transmission attributed to injection practices. Our findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions among PWID, considering the ongoing transmission rate and prolonged time from infection to diagnosis.PMID:38663466 | DOI:10.1016/j.meegid.2024.105597

Source: Infection, Genetics and Evolution - April 25, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Evangelia Georgia Kostaki Sotirios Roussos Anastasia Maria Kefala Stefanos Limnaios Mina Psichogiou Eleni Papachristou Georgios Nikolopoulos Eleni Flountzi Samuel R Friedman Pagona Lagiou Angelos Hatzakis Vana Sypsa Gkikas Magiorkinis Apostolos Beloukas D Source Type: research