Kyrgyzstan, or Kyrgyz Republic, is a small country in Central Asia bordering with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. In 2020, an estimated 9,200 (8,400--9,900) people lived with HIV-1 in Kyrgyzstan with a prevalence of 0.2%¹. The HIV-1 epidemic concentrates in the key populations, mainly persons who inject drugs (PWID) and their sexual partners (Zhao et al., 2020). Access to HIV-1 care and treatment services is far behind the global target of 95-95-95 by 2030. In 2020, 76% of people were aware of their HIV-1 status, 48% of them received antiretroviral therapy (ART), and only 43% of those were viral suppressed; the ART coverage among pregnant women was 94% (see text footnote 1).

Molecular epidemiology and phylogenetic analysis are widely used to characterize HIV-1 epidemics. HIV-1 phylogenetics has been extensively used to characterize the virus transmission networks (Wilkinson et al., 2014; Grabowski et al., 2018) and to reconstruct the viral origin and spread history (Wilkinson et al., 2014). The combination of epidemiological and sociodemographic data with the phylogenetic approaches reveals data on the risk factors associated with the HIV-1 spread (Wolf et al., 2017; Fujimoto et al., 2021), identifies sub-epidemics (Peters et al., 2016), and informs prevention and care interventions (Brenner and Wainberg, 2013).

Molecular–epidemiological and phylogenetic studies of HIV-1 infection in Central Asia, particularly in Kyrgyzstan, are very limited. One of the most recent studies in Kyrgyzstan describes a high rate (range 39–50%) of HIV-1 drug resistance in individuals with treatment failure (Lapovok et al., 2020). The study of HIV-1 sub-subtype A6 [also known as Russian A1 or A-FSU (Foley et al., 2016)] describing the transmission networks in former Soviet Union (FSU) countries concludes that the major driving source of HIV-1 transmission is migrant workers, emphasizing an extensive mobility in the region (80–90% of migrants are from Central Asia) (Aibekova et al., 2018). The study also points at the emerging HIV-1 epidemic among hetero- and homosexual populations, surpassing the parenteral transmission (Aibekova et al., 2018). Drug trafficking from Afghanistan and Tajikistan to southern Kyrgyzstan significantly increased in the mid-1990s, resulting in predominant opiate injections over the homemade drugs (Wolf et al., 2008). Between 1991 and 1999, registered drug use rate in Kyrgyzstan increased sevenfold (Wolf et al., 2008). And in the following 5-year period from 2001 to 2006, Kyrgyzstan had a 15-fold increase of HIV-1 infections, with 76% of cases detected among PWID (Wolf et al., 2008). However, in the last decade, national programs on HIV/AIDS in cooperation with international programs (Thorne et al., 2010; Zhao et al., 2020) have significantly improved HIV-1 care services in the country. While in 2010, only 9% of HIV-infected people received ART, this indicator reached 48% in 2020. In 2010, only 17% HIV-infected people on ART were virally suppressed; this number almost tripled by 2020 (see text footnote 1). By the beginning of 2021, 86.5% of HIV-positive individuals on ART had undetectable viral loads².

In this study, we performed the HIV-1 molecular–epidemiological survey in Kyrgyzstan. To achieve that goal, we analyzed HIV-1 genetic diversity and HIV-1 drug resistance, identified potential transmission clusters, described epidemiological characteristics of studied individuals, and reconstructed the evolutionary history of the virus.

In this study, we performed molecular–epidemiological analysis of HIV-1 in Kyrgyzstan in four provinces, two of which (Bishkek and Osh) are most severely affected by HIV-1. Our results showed the predominant circulation of two major HIV-1 variants—CRF02_AG and sub-subtype A6. A third of HIV-infected individuals in the study had major HIV-1 DRMs: two-third of those had DRMs to at least two ARV drug classes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a well-defined structure of CRF02_AG indicating the locally evolving sub-epidemics. The lack of a well-defined phylogenetic structure was observed for the A6 sub-subtype. Small distinct HIV-1 transmission clusters were detected among study sequences. Clustering was not associated with any individual characteristics. DRMs were detected in 26.9% of clustered individuals.

HIV-1 epidemic in Kyrgyzstan is characterized by an overall low HIV-1 infection prevalence rate, a high HIV-1 prevalence rate among key populations (Deryabina et al., 2019), and a high proportion of HIV-positive children (Mansfeld et al., 2015). Our study found that most of the HIV-positive older adults were PWID; heterosexual transmission was more common in the 25–49 age group. This may indicate the shift of the HIV-1 epidemic to the general population from key groups such as PWID or change of substance consumption to non-injection drugs. Our study also found that over a half of children and young adults in Osh acquired healthcare-associated HIV-1 infection. Earlier studies described several outbreaks of hospital-acquired HIV-1 among children in Osh province in 2007 (Thorne et al., 2010) and 2011–2012 (Mansfeld et al., 2015), with the total number of over 300 reported cases. Although healthcare-associated HIV-1 infections in high-income countries are extremely low, risk of nosocomial HIV-1 infections in the resource-limited countries remains high (Ganczak and Barss, 2008; Myburgh et al., 2020). We also identified significant differences in the transmission modes between genders. Women were more likely to be infected thought the sexual contacts; PWID was a dominant transmission mode among men, followed by nosocomial infection. Similar epidemiological characteristics of HIV-positive individuals were described in the previous report (Zhao et al., 2020).

The first HIV-1 case in Kyrgyzstan was identified in 1987 in a foreigner [34]. The first local HIV-1 case was registered in 1996 (Roth et al., 2012), and HIV-1 cases in Kyrgyzstan are steadily increasing since then, like in other countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. CRF02_AG predominantly circulates in West Africa (Bbosa et al., 2019), but since 1999, this recombinant form is constantly detected in Central Asian countries (Laga et al., 2015; Aibekova et al., 2018). CRF02_AG circulating in Central Asia is genetically distant from that from African countries and phylogenetically represents well-supported distant clade (Mir et al., 2016). Our study showed the presence of the four main CRF02_AG region-specific lineages circulating in Kyrgyzstan. Phylodynamic reconstruction of HIV-1 epidemics in Kyrgyzstan revealed the date of origin of CRF02_AG as January 1997. Osh-specific clades increased earlier than did the Bishkek-specific clades. Analysis of the characteristics of the study individuals also showed that people from Osh had HIV-1 infection for a longer period than those from Bishkek. The CRF02_AG rise in Osh coincided with the active drug trafficking from Afghanistan through the so-called ‘‘North route.’’ The main traffic routes go to the South Kyrgyzstan (Osh province) through the Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and then spread across Kyrgyzstan and further to Kazakhstan, Russian, and other European countries⁷. Most likely, this viral variant was introduced to Kyrgyzstan by drug trafficking [Mir et al., 2016]. Bishkek-specific clades were predominantly represented by adults who acquired HIV-1 infection through heterosexual contacts and while injection of drugs, indicating an extensive mixing between high-risk and heterosexual populations. Osh-specific clades are represented by children and young adults who acquired healthcare-associated HIV-1 infection and represented by in-hospital HIV-1 outbreak sequences. These age groups play an important role in the local HIV-1 sub-epidemic, and targeted HIV-1 care interventions should be implemented to limit HIV-1 spread and improve healthcare services. HIV-1 sub-subtype A6 epidemic in FSU countries is characterized by monophyletic phylogenetic tree structure, suggesting a common ancestor for all the viruses (Díez-Fuertes et al., 2015). Our results revealed a significant geographic dissemination of the sub-subtype A6 across the FSU countries with the lack of country-specific clades. HIV-1 sub-subtype A6 phylogenetics discovered multiple introductions of the virus to Kyrgyzstan, which are most likely associated with the intense migration between Kyrgyzstan and the neighboring countries. The origin date for sub-subtype A6 in Kyrgyzstan was estimated as June 1995. The HIV-1 effective population size of these subtypes had an initial growing phase with the further stable phase for CRF02_AG/CRF63_02A and decline phase for sub-subtype A6. CRF63_02A (formally known as CRF02_AG recombinant) was initially described in 2012 as a viral variant that caused an outbreak in the Asian part of Russia in 2006 (Baryshev et al., 2012). In our study, a very limited number of CRF63_02A sequences were detected. A small number (1.6%) of HIV-positive MSM was found in the study. Almost a half of those individuals were infected by minor HIV-1 variants (subtypes B and G, and URFs B/CRF02_AG and B/G); the remaining five MSM had sub-subtype A6 or CRF02_AG HIV-1 infection. Despite the very limited number of MSM in our study, these data indicate the mixing of HIV-1 transmissions between MSM and general population. Also, the high HIV-1 genetic diversity among MSM could potentially be one of the driving forces for further increase of HIV-1 variety in Kyrgyzstan. Data of HIV-1 prevalence among MSM in Central Asia, and particularly in Kyrgyzstan, are very limited due to criminalization of same-sex relationships (Thorne et al., 2010; Wirtz et al., 2013). However, previous studies reported HIV-1 prevalence rate among MSM at around 1% (Thorne et al., 2010; El-Bassel et al., 2013). Further studies are needed to better understand HIV-1 epidemiology and HIV-related risk behavior among this high-risk group in Kyrgyzstan. This study showed that groups of at-risk people could contribute to the HIV-1 epidemic progression by maintaining new infections within the risk group or by linking infections between different populations.

Our study has several limitations. Children and young adults were sampled more intensely than older individuals, which could have biased some of the observed numbers. In this study, samples from children and young adults were deliberately collected from those who potentially acquired HIV-1 infection during in-hospital outbreaks. Also, this study provides information on HIV-positive pregnant women in Bishkek province only. Data on pregnancy status from other provinces were not available. In this study, we detected a small number of transmission clusters sized two to four individuals due to a small sampling fraction. The study dataset represents only around 6% (555 HIV-positive study individuals of an estimated 9,200 HIV-infections in 2020 (see text footnote 1) of the total HIV-1 detected cases in Kyrgyzstan. Major DRMs were detected in 23.6% of individuals in the HIV-1 transmission clusters. The study as performed does not power to reveal whether DRMs occurred due to the therapy failure or whether originating from the transmission of the drug-resistant virus. HIV-positive individuals not linked to care were not included in the study, since only individuals who visited healthcare facilities were included.

To our knowledge, this is the first study that provides comprehensive data on the HIV-1 epidemic in Kyrgyzstan. We identified complex patterns of HIV-1 phylogenetics among the key and general populations and observed high levels of HIV-1 genetic diversity and drug resistance. Further studies are needed, accompanied by extensive public health interventions to limit HIV-1 spread and improve future HIV-1 care services.

The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/Supplementary Material.

The study was approved by Ethical Committee of Research and Manufacturing Association “Prevention Medicine” of Ministry of Health of Kyrgyz Republic. Written consent forms were provided by all the study individuals. For individuals 18 years old and younger, written consent forms were provided by their parent or legal guardian.

MS, AT, and NG planned and designed the study. DZ, IO, TN, MG, and VI performed HIV genotyping and collected the sequences. AT submitted the sequences. MS performed the analysis of the epidemiological data, performed the phylogenetic and phylodynamic analyses, produced the illustrations, and wrote the manuscript. NG supervised the project and edited the manuscript. IM performed the statistical analysis. UC, EN, UM, ZA, NA, AB, and UK collected the epidemiological data and assisted with sample collection at the study sites. All authors participated in the final review of the manuscript.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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