Dynamics of HIV-1 in recently diagnosed individuals in Botswana in the era of “Treat All”

Determining human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) recent infection can help guide prevention and treatment options for newly HIV-1 diagnosed individuals, as well as help guide new approaches to HIV-1 vaccine design. Although Botswana has a high rate of antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage, we still have an estimated 9,000 new infections annually (UNAIDS, 2021). It is therefore important to identify these individuals and characterise their circulating viruses in the era of high saturation of ART. This may allow Moraka and her team to understand if there is any evolutionary drift towards highly transmissible viruses. The main focus of this project is to characterise early HIV-1 founder/transmitted viruses in the era of “Treat All” by evaluating the virologic (genotypic and phenotypic) characteristics of these viruses in order to inform approaches to better HIV-1 related surveillance, treatment options and ongoing vaccine design.