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The HIV-1C genomic study seeks to determine the genetic characteristics of the virus that had been transmitted among mother-infant pairs in Botswana. This study was designed to compare matched virus from the infant to that isolated from different biological compartments of the mother: blood, breast milk and cervico-vaginal fluid. Currently, about 112 specimen sets have been collected and frozen representing three locales within Botswana (Mochudi, Lobatse and Molepolole). The overall rate of transmission among HIV-positive mothers participating in this study was 34.8% (Amplicor diagnostic kit) and 31% (PCR analysis in-house) based on analysis of infant blood. Plasma viral load was determined for 32 transmitters (TR) mothers and 59 non-transmitters (NTR) mothers and was 151,707/ml and 88,090/ml, respectively. The proviral load within the blood and within cervicovaginal fluid was also measured for 24 TR and 20 NTR mothers. A Cochran-Armitage test for trend between the TR and NTR groups indicates a strong trend difference between proviral blood viral load (p = 0.0054) and proviral cervicovaginal load (p = 0.0054) and a weaker but significant trend for plasma viral load (p = 0.0204) among the two groups. Sequence analysis of DNA and RNA from the different biological compartments obtained from TR and NTR mothers is ongoing and will be the basis for identifying genetic signatures associated with perinatal transmission in Botswana. |
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