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Previous studies of HIV transmission in serodiscordant couples have shown a limited number of variants in newly infected individuals compared with their infecting partners. Over time, the genetic diversity of HIV in the newly infected partner expands, as expressed by a wider range of envelope genotypes and use of cell-entry coreceptors other than CCR5.
In the present study, researchers performed detailed viral analyses in 13 newly infected people and their chronically infected partners in Rakai, Uganda. Ten couples had HIV-1 subtype D, and 3 had HIV-1 subtype A. Viruses from the newly infected individuals were found to have significantly less genetic diversity and divergence — and to be more closely related to common ancestral sequences — th…