Predominance of CRF02-AG and CRF06-cpx in Niger, West Africa

A total of 110 HIV-1-positive samples obtained in 1997 (n = 44) and 2000 (n = 66) were genetically characterized in the V3-V5 envelope region and the p24 gag region. The majority of the strains were CRF02-AG (54.3%) or CRF06-cpx (18.1%) in env and gag. More than 9% of the samples were recombinants between CRF02 and CRF06; 9 were CRF06 in env but CRF02 in gag, and for one sample the opposite was seen. Overall for 23 (20.9%) samples, the subtype designation was different between env and gag, and in 20 of these 23 samples a CRF was involved in the recombination event. No significant differences were seen between subtype distributions in 1997 and 2000, except that the proportion of recombinants increased from 13.6% in 1997 to 27.2% in 2000.