work was not funded by any specific grant. However, the first author, Ossama Allam, had received a PhD scholarship from Ste-Justine Foundation and from ªFondation des etoilesº for this work. The funders ... Diseases Network (Quebec) for administrative coordination for obtaining blood specimens from HIV-infected patients. Conceptualization: Ali Ahmad. Data curation: Ossama Allam, Suzanne Samarani, Mohammad-Ali