The origin and spread of CRF85_BC, driven by heterosexual transmission among older people in Sichuan, China

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) epidemic remains a major public health burden in China. By the end of 2018, it is estimated that there are approximately 1.25 [1.10–1.40] million persons living with HIV/AIDS in China. During 2018, 81 [60–105] thousand new HIV infections occurred [1].

In early 1990s, HIV-1 Thai subtypes B′ and C were co-circulated among injection drug users (IDUs) [2] in Yunnan province in southwestern China bordering the ‘Golden Triangle’, leading to active inter-subtype recombination which generated CRF07_BC, CRF08_BC, and a large number of unique recombinant forms [3, 4]. In the initial period, drug trafficking activities were considered to be responsible for the rapid spread of CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC across China [5]. From 1978, as commercial sex activity increased across the country [6], the proportion of newly reported HIV infections/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients through heterosexual transmission increased dramatically. Nowadays, CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC have become the most epidemic strains in China [7, 8] and drug-driven epidemic has been shifting to sexually transmission-driven epidemic [9]. There were other B/C CRFs reported in the last few years, such as CRF57_BC (identified in Baoshan, Western Yunnan) [10], CRF62_BC and CRF64_BC (identified in Ruili/Dehong, Western Yunnan) [11]. However, there was scarce evidence that such B/C recombinant forms had spread to other areas. In 2016, we reported a novel B/C recombinant form, CRF85_BC, among heterosexually infected patients in southern Sichuan (Yibin city) [12]. CRF85_BC was then reported in Anhui [13], Yunnan [14] and Northern Sichuan [15] (Guangyuan City). Due to lack of B or C epidemic history in the local high-risk population, the origin and the spread of CRF85_BC was still to be investigated.

Sichuan province is in the interior of Southwest China, adjacent to Yunnan and Guizhou in the South and Tibet in the West. Sichuan has a population of approximately 85 million people, and is a developing area in China. Since the initial HIV epidemic was fueled by IDU in 1990s, the HIV epidemic in Sichuan had become one of the worst in China. By 2018, there were 132, 680 HIV infections reported in Sichuan province, which ranked the first among all provinces/autonomous regions in China [16]. Several studies have focused on the HIV epidemic in IDUs [17, 18] and CRF07_BC [19, 20] in Liangshan prefecture in Sichuan, and reported that the infected IDUs in this region could serve as a source of transmission to other regions of China [20]. However, limited attention has been paid to the recent shift of the HIV-related risk behaviors from IDU to sexual contact, and also to other circulating HIV strains in this area.

Genetic and temporal dynamic analyses have been widely used to reconstruct the history of the HIV epidemic and have provided important information to aid in the development of strategies for the prevention of HIV-1 transmission. Here, we reported an investigation of the temporal and spatial dynamics of HIV CRF85_BC to give more clues about transmission of HIV strains in China.

Consistent with the differences in viral diversity among geographical regions in China [8], over 66.5% circulating HIV strains in Sichuan were defined as CRF_BC including CRF07_BC, CRF08_BC and CRF85_BC et al. Hence, CRF_BC infections became a more serious public health issue, which necessitated a deeper understanding of the CRF_BC epidemic patterns in China. CRF85_BC, a newly identified CRF_BC, were the fourth most prevalent HIV strains (68/1291, 5.27%) in Sichuan and was dominating the HIV-1 epidemic in a southwestern city, i e. Yibin city.

In the present study, we only found CRF85_BC prevalent in heterosexually infected individuals. In molecular epidemiological surveillance of Sichuan in 2019, 64.7% of CRF85_BC were transmission via commercial sex. Other early studies about CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC suggested that CRF_BC had spread from IDU to the general population by sexual transmission [30]. Due to lack of the early CRF85_BC sequence, we could not rule out the possibility that this kind of CRF_BC originated from other high-risk groups such as IDUs or former plasma donors (FPDs) [13]. However, commercial sex transmission was at least an important driving factor of CRF85_BC becoming endemic in some local areas. Notably, the majority of cases infected by CRF85_BC were PLHIV50+ cases, most of whom were low-educated. PLHIV50+ have been significantly increasing in the past two decades globally [31]. The proportion of PLHIV50+ around the world increased substantially from 8% in 2000 to 16% in 2016 and is expected to reach an estimated 21% by 2020 [32]. Poor awareness about safer sex practices and underestimating their risk of contracting HIV made them extremely vulnerable to HIV.

Analysis of 148 PR/RT sequences from CRF85_BC infected individuals sampled between 2011 and 2019 revealed that this strain had not just become endemic in Sichuan but also spread to some other provinces in China. Until now, at least 6 provinces have been affected and had a most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) is estimated at around 2005. Yunnan is considered to be the origin area. Previous studies in Yunnan between 2009 and 2012 revealed several CRF_BC HIV-1 strains circulating among local sexually active youth, which is coincident with the gateway position of Yunnan in China’s HIV epidemic history [33]. By Bayesian skyline plot and Bayesian skygrid analysis, the exponential increase in the effective number of CRF85_BC indicated that the virus experienced 2 fast growth phases during 2011–2014 and 2017–2019.

CRF85_BC dispersion showed a strong geographic compartmentalization. After its origin in Yunnan, CRF85_BC almost at the same time spread to neighboring provinces such as Sichuan around 2008.6 (2006.7–2010.2), Guangxi around 2012.3 (2011.3–2013.2). The first place where the virus was introduced into Sichuan was probably Yibin city, which was located in the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Provinces. In recent years, the local epidemic situation had deteriorated rapidly [34]. The explosive epidemic of CRF85_BC was found in the heterosexual elderly people in this city, and 39.7% (58/146) HIV cases locally were infected by CRF85_BC. Phylogeographical reconstruction further suggested that CRF85_BC spread from Yibin to other cities of Sichuan and even other provinces. This virus was identified in 9 cities in Sichuan, 3 of which probably had an endemic, such Luzhou, Leshan and Guangyuan. Leshan and Luzhou were both bordering with Yibin. Guangyuan is a northeastern city in Sichuan. According to another research, CRF85_BC infected people with Yibin household registration travelled to and resided in Guangyuan, further adding fuel to local endemic.

CRF85_BC entered Sichuan probably through multiple introduction events. In phylogenetic trees, some single strains of Sichuan also formed sub-clusters with Yunnan or Guangxi sequences. However, not all imported cases of Sichuan caused local epidemics.

Our study is the first report to clarify the phylogeographic and demographic dynamics of CRF 85_BC, a newly-identified and increasingly prevalent HIV-1 strain, in Sichuan, China. This study also highlights that heterosexual behavior among older people played an important role in the contribution of CRF 85_BC transmission. The origin of CRF 85_BC was traced back to Yunnan around 2005, spread exponentially to various places (including Guangxi, Sichuan, et al), and later on became endemic around 2008.5 (2007.0–2010.5) in Sichuan. Our findings provide novel insights into the dissemination of a novel HIV-1 virus and extend the understanding of the HIV epidemic in China.