ABSTRACT
HIV molecular network is a recently reported method for studying the transmission characteristics of HIV-infected people. Countries have used this method to conduct a large number of researches on transmission relations, transmission hotspots and epidemic surveillance for the purpose of providing evidence for precise AIDS intervention and control. At present, there are three major methods for constructing molecular networks in the world, i.e. genetic distance method based on pairwise alignment, phylogenetic node support method, and joint parameter method based on the two methods. This paper reviews the progress of the three methods for constructing HIV molecular network to study the transmission characteristics of HIV-infected patients, in order to provide data support for the prevention and control of HIV. Since the emergence of the molecular network method, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Sichuan and other provinces in China have reported relevant research results using molecular network analysis, which provided scientific data for further precise AIDS prevention and control. Recent international studies have also predicted that molecular network based transmission cluster detection is expected to become a new method to stop AIDS epidemic.