Definition
HIV-2 is mainly prevalent in West Africa, where an estimated 1–2 million people are infected. It is a rare infection elsewhere. From the eight known HIV-2 groups, only group A and B have established themselves as ongoing endemics in populations. Guinea-Bissau is thought to be the nucleus of the HIV-2 epidemic. HIV-2 has been able to spread there, probably through iatrogenic spread and increased sexual risk behavior between 1950 and 1970. Few studies have investigated risk factors for acquiring HIV-2 infection, but sexual behavior and increased mobility have been associated with HIV-2 infection. In most populations, the highest HIV-2 prevalence is observed in women older than 45 years. Mortality is lower for HIV-2 than for HIV-1 infection, because many infected individuals have low viral loads. The Unusually low viral load is also the reason for the lower transmission rates compared to HIV-1. The HIV-2 epidemic in West Africa has been declining since the mid-1980s, while...
References
Aaby P, Gustafson P, Roth A, et al. Vaccinia scars associated with better survival for adults. An observational study from Guinea-Bissau. Vaccine. 2006;24(29–30):5718–25.
Anderson RM, May RM. The population biology of the interaction between HIV-1 and HIV-2: coexistence or competitive exclusion? AIDS (London, England). 1996;10(14):1663–73.
Damond F, Worobey M, Campa P, et al. Identification of a highly divergent HIV type 2 and proposal for a change in HIV type 2 classification. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2004;20(6):666–72.
de Silva TI, van Tienen C, Rowland-Jones SL, Cotten M. Dual infection with HIV-1 and HIV-2: double trouble or destructive interference? HIV Ther. 2010;4(3):305–23.
de Silva T, van Tienen C, Onyango C, et al. Population dynamics of HIV-2 in rural Guinea-Bissau: comparison with HIV-1 and ongoing transmission at the heart of the epidemic. AIDS (London, England). 2012;27(1):125–34.
Geskus R, Poulin N, Whittle H, Schim van der Loeff M. A comparison of progression of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection in the Gambia, Africa, Abstract 13_292. In: 13th International workshop on HIV observational databases, Lisbon, Portugal. 2009.
Gottlieb GS, Hawes SE, Agne HD, et al. Lower levels of HIV RNA in semen in HIV-2 compared with HIV-1 infection: implications for differences in transmission. AIDS (London, England). 2006;20(6):895–900.
Guyader M, Emerman M, Sonigo P, Clavel F, Montagnier L, Alizon M. Genome organization and transactivation of the human immunodeficiency virus type 2. Nature. 1987;326(6114):662–9.
Lemey P, Pybus OG, Wang B, Saksena NK, Salemi M, Vandamme AM. Tracing the origin and history of the HIV-2 epidemic. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003;100(11):6588–92.
Matser A1, Van Tienen C, Schim Van Der Loeff MF. Effect of HIV-2 infection on HIV-1 disease progression and mortality: reply. AIDS. 2014;28(4):615–7. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000000141.
Pepin J. The origin of AIDS. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2011.
Pepin J, Plamondon M, Alves AC, Beaudet M, Labbe AC. Parenteral transmission during excision and treatment of tuberculosis and trypanosomiasis may be responsible for the HIV-2 epidemic in Guinea-Bissau. AIDS (London, England). 2006;20(9):1303–11.
Poulsen AG, Aaby P, Jensen H, Dias F. Risk factors for HIV-2 seropositivity among older people in Guinea-Bissau. A search for the early history of HIV-2 infection. Scand J Infect Dis. 2000;32(2):169–75.
Prince PD, Matser A, Van Tienen C, Whittle HC, Schim Van Der Loeff MF. Mortality rates in people dually infected with HIV-1/2 and those infected with either HIV-1 or HIV-2: a systematic review and meta-analysis. AIDS (London, England). 2013;28:549–58.
Schim van der Loeff MF, Aaby P. Towards a better understanding of the epidemiology of HIV-2. AIDS (London, England). 1999;13(Suppl A):S69–84.
Schim van der Loeff M, Larke N, Kaye S, et al. Undetectable plasma viral load predicts normal survival in HIV-2-infected people in a West African village. Retrovirology. 2010;7(1):46.
Schmidt WP, Van Der Loeff MS, Aaby P, et al. Behaviour change and competitive exclusion can explain the diverging HIV-1 and HIV-2 prevalence trends in Guinea-Bissau. Epidemiol Infect. 2008;136(4):551–61.
van Tienen C, Schim van der Loeff M, Zaman SM, et al. Two distinct epidemics: the rise of HIV-1 and decline of HIV-2 infection between 1990 and 2007 in rural Guinea-Bissau. J Acq Immun Def Synd (1999). 2010;53(5):640–7.
van Tienen C, Schim van der Loeff M, Peterson I, et al. HTLV-1 and HIV-2 infection are associated with increased mortality in a rural west African community. PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e29026.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
van Tienen, C., van der Loeff, M.S. (2015). Epidemiology of HIV-2 Infection in West Africa. In: Hope, T., Stevenson, M., Richman, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of AIDS. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9610-6_34-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9610-6_34-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9610-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine