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The article presents a study which examines the HIV type 1 coreceptor usage by genotypic algorithms that is built from the subtype B virus. The study performed a recombinant virus phenotypic entry assay to 52 patients infected with HIV-1 subtype C virus that were recruited in Malawi and another 21 patients recruited in France. It shows that the patient's virological and clinical characteristics were not significantly different according to CCR5 or CXCR4 virus coreceptor usage.

A 9.2-kb sequence from a hepatitis C virus (HCV) strain found in southwest France was compared to sequences from reference strains in HCV sequence databases. We found a recombinant virus with genotype 2 at the 5′ end and genotype 5 at the 3′ end. The crossover point was located between genes NS2 and NS3. Recombination between HCV genotypes must now be considered in studies on HCV epidemiology and evolution and in predictions of the virus response to antiviral therapy. Knowing the location of the recombination point may also be useful for constructing infectious chimeric viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]