We analysed a group of Spanish intravenous drug users and controls to determine the role of mutations at the chemokine receptor-5/HIV-1 cofactor (CCR5), previously implicated in resistance to HIV-1 infection, and CXCR4 genes in susceptibility to HIV-1 infection. The complete coding sequence of both genes was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction from genomic DNA of 50 seropositive slow progressors and 10 long-term non-progressors, and analysed by the single-strand conformation polymorphism technique in a search for mutations. No mutation in CXCR4 was found, and delta ccr5 was the only mutation identified at the CCR5 gene. We genotyped (delta ccr5 allele) 150 HIV-1+ intravenous drug users and 250 healthy controls from the same population (Asturias, Northern Spain). Patients were divided into rapid progressors, presenting an event indicating progression to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the 2 years after infection (100 patients), and slow progressors, remaining asymptomatic for 2-10 years (50 patients). The frequencies of the delta ccr5 allele were 0.105 and 0.040 in controls and HIV-1+ patients, respectively. Eighteen per cent of the controls (45/250) and 8% (12/150) of the patients carried the delta ccr-5 allele (P=0.013). The frequency of delta ccr5 carriers among rapid and slow disease progressors was 3 and 15%, respectively. A highly significant difference was found between rapid progressors and controls (P=0.0014). No patient (0/150) was delta ccr5 homozygous compared with 1% among controls. Thus, the delta ccr5 allele (the only CCR5 mutation found in our HIV-1 patients) was rare among seropositive intravenous drug users, suggesting that the absence of this mutation confers an advantage to the virus when infecting cells in vivo. In addition, patients carrying the delta ccr5 allele tend to show a slow progression towards HIV-1-related disease, remaining asymptomatic for longer periods of time.