Antiretroviral therapy resistance mutations among HIV infected people in Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, the number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) has increased steadily by 39% since 2010. Development of antiretroviral therapy (ART) resistance mutations (ARTRM) is a major hurdle in achieving effective treatment and prevention against HIV. Using HIV pol sequences from 602 PLHIV from Kazakhstan, we analyzed ARTRMs for their association with factors that may promote development of ARTRMs. 56% PLHIV were infected with HIV subtype A6 and 42% with CRF02_AG. The ARTRM Q174K was associated with increased viral load and decreased CD4+ cell count, while infection with CRF02_AG was associated with a lower likelihood of Q174K. Interestingly, CRF02_AG was positively associated with the ARTRM L10V that, in turn, was observed frequently with darunavir administration. Infection with CRF02_AG was positively associated with the ARTRM S162A that, in turn, was frequently observed with the administration of nevirapine, also associated with lower CD4 counts. Zidovudine or Nevirapine receipt was associated with the development of the ARTRM E138A, that, in turn, was associated with lower CD4 counts. Determination of a patient's HIV variant can help guide ART choice in Kazakhstan. For example, PLHIV infected with CRF02_AG will benefit less from darunavir and nevirapine, and emtricitabine should replace zidovudine.

Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, tuberculosis and sexually-transmitted infections among HIV positive patients in Kazakhstan

In contrast with global trends, HIV prevalence in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries has been rising in recent years. In this study, we analyzed hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), tuberculosis (TB) and sexually-transmitted (STI) co-infections among 500 HIV positive study participants recruited from all regions of Kazakhstan. Among our study participants, 27%, 8%, 2%, and 5% were coinfected with, respectively, HCV, TB, HBV, and STI. A considerable proportion of the study participants was also found with triple or quadruple infections of HCV/TB (12%), TB/STI (0.8%), HCV/STI (2%), HCV/HBV (1%), HBV/TB (0.4%), HBV/STI (0.2%), HBV/HCV/TB (0.4%), HBV/HCV/STI (0.2%), or HCV/TB/STI (0.2%). Strong associations were found of certain age groups, duration of HIV infection, and practices of injection drug use and sexual contact with PLWH, with co-infections of HIV/HCV and HIV/TB. The odds of having death was 4.07 times higher with TB/HIV as compared to other co-infections. Co-occurrence of HIV with HCV, HBV, and TB infections among participants of this study highlights the necessity of regular screening for HCV infection among HIV infected patients, together with implementation of vigilant vaccination protocols against HBV and TB. Additionally, persons who inject drugs especially need to be focused for harm reduction efforts that include opiate substitution therapy, needle or syringe exchange programs, regular screening, and increased availability of ART and direct acting antivirals.