April 17, 2009

Is HIV Becoming More Virulent?

People diagnosed with HIV in 2007 generally had lower CD4 counts than those diagnosed in 1985; it’s a trend, according to a report published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, that suggests the virus may be increasing in virulence, Reuters reports.

According to the article, Nancy Crum-Cianflone, MD, from the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California, and her colleagues analyzed data from 2,174 patients who tested positive for HIV antibodies and were enrolled in the TriService AIDS Clinical Consortium HIV Natural History Study. None of the study participants received antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, and none had their CD4 counts recorded within six months of their diagnosis.

The average starting CD4 cell counts during the periods 1985–1990, 1991–1995, 1996–2001 and 2002–2007 were 632, 553, 493 and 514 cells per microliter, respectively. During those same periods, the percentage of patients with initial cell counts below 350 cells per microliter were 12 percent, 21 percent, 26 percent and 25 percent.

Reuters reports that these findings are in line with the work of other researchers, who have found that patients in recent years have required ARV treatment sooner following their HIV diagnoses.

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David, Portland, 2009-04-25 01:27:23
I think that it is not unexpected that people who are newly infected are likely to get a strain of the virus that is more virulent because it is coming from people who have been taking ARVS and are now resistant to many meds. The virus is one of the most intelligent in history in it's ability to change itself within the body and develop ways to defeat the methods that we use to fight it. The people who got it in the 80s likely got a virgin virus, much less lethal than what is around today.

Dr. Richard Ferri, Brewster, 2009-04-17 18:42:31
As a man of medicine I love these studies. How could a virus NOT become stronger since it is spreading unchecked, with poor treatments, and to the most disadvantage people in the world. We do't even really care what the virus is doing in the US as long as it keeps the AIDS industry kicking.