Molecular Epidemiology: HIV-1 and HCV sequences from Libyan outbreak.
deOliveira T, Pybus OG, Rambaut A, Salemi M, Cassol S, Ciccozzi M, Rezza G, Gattinara GC, D'Arrigo R, Amicosante M, Perrin L, Colizzi V & Perno CF(2006) Nature 444, 836-837.
In 1998 outbreaks of human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection were reported among children attending Al-Fateh Hospital (AFH), Benghazi, Libya. Here we report phylogenetic analysis of new virus sequences from these outbreaks. We demonstrate that the HIV and HCV strains were already circulating and prevalent in AFH or its environs prior to the March 1998 arrival of the Bulgarian medical staff accused of transmitting the HIV strain.
