On the contribution of Angola to the initial spread of HIV-1

摘要

Angola borders and has long-term links with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as high levels of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) genetic diversity, indicating a potential role in the initial spread of the HIV-1 pandemic. Herein, we analyze 564 C2V3 and 354 pol publicly available sequences from DRC, Republic of Congo (RC) and Angola to better understand the initial spread of the virus in this region. Phylogeographic analyses were performed with the BEAST software and migration records from the first half of the 20^th century in DRC were collected from colonial archives. While our results pinpoint the origin of the pandemic to Kinshasa (DRC) around 1906, our results indicate that the introduction of HIV-1 to Angola could have occurred early between 1910 and 1930. Furthermore, most of the initial HIV-1 migrations out of Kinshasa were directed not only to Lubumbashi (DRC), but also to Angola and Brazzaville. Migration records corroborate these findings, indicating that the early exportation of the virus to Angola might be related to the high number of Angolan immigrants in Kinshasa at that time, originated mostly from the North of Angola.In summary, our results place Angola at the epicenter of early HIV dissemination, together with DRC and RC.