https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-01934-8
Regular Article
Transmission of HIV in sexual networks in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe
1 Department of Virology, Erasmus Medical Centre, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2 University of Florida, College of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Emerging Pathogens Institute, Gainesville, FL, USA
3 Instituto de Física Interdisciplinaria y Sistemas Complejos IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Palma de Mallorca, Spain
a e-mail: d.vandevijver@erasmusmc.nl
Received: 3 June 2013
Revised: 10 July 2013
Published online:
13
September
2013
We are reviewing the literature regarding sexual networks and HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. On Likoma Island in Malawi, a sexual network was reconstructed using a sociometric survey in which individuals named their sexual partners. The sexual network identified one giant component including half of all sexually active individuals. More than 25% of respondents were linked through independent chains of sexual relations. HIV was more common in the sparser regions of the network due to over-representation of groups with higher HIV prevalence. A study from KwaZulu-Natal in South-Africa collected egocentric data about sexual partners and found that new infections in women in a particular area was associated with the number of life-time partners in men. Data about sexual networks and HIV transmission are not reported in Europe. It is, however, found that the annual number of sexual partners follows a scale-free network. Phylogenetic studies that determine genetic relatedness between HIV isolates obtained from infected individuals, found that patients in the early stages of infections explain a high number of new infections. In conclusion, the limited information that is available suggest that sexual networks play a role in spread of HIV. Obtaining more information about sexual networks can be of benefit for modeling studies on HIV transmission and prevention.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2013
