AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, August 9, 2004
Staff Medical Writers

According to a study from the U.S., "The association between hormone fluctuations during the menstrual cycle and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA shedding in cervical and vaginal secretions was examined daily for 17 HIV-1-seropositive women for the duration of 1 cycle. Serum levels of RNA were evaluated 3 times/week."

"A marginally significant positive correlation between serum levels of progesterone and serum levels of HIV-1 RNA (p=.04) was observed. Cervical virus levels were significantly correlated with the number of days from the midcycle surge in luteinizing hormone (LH) (p=.008)," S. Benki and coworkers reported.

"The lowest levels of cervical HIV-1 RNA were present at the LH surge, and this nadir was followed by an increase in virus levels that reached a maximum before the start of menses.

"In contrast," the authors continued, "there was no significant association between the number of days from the LH surge and the level of HIV-1 RNA in vaginal secretions (p=.4). "

"These data support the hypothesis that the level of HIV-1 RNA in cervical secretions is influenced by the menstrual cycle," concluded investigators, "and they suggest that the risk of heterosexual transmission of HIV-1 may increase as menses is approached."

Benki and colleagues published the results of their research in Journal of Infectious Diseases (Cyclic shedding of HIV-1 RNA in cervical secretions during the menstrual cycle. J Infect Dis. 2004 Jun 15;189(12):2192-201.

For additional information, contact J. Overbaugh, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Division of Human Biology, 1100 Fairview Ave. N, Mailstop C3-168, Seattle, WA 98109 USA.

The publisher of the Journal of Infectious Diseases can be contacted at: University of Chicago Press, 1427 E 60TH St., Chicago, IL 60637-2954 USA.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of AIDS/HIV, Gynecology, Endocrinology, Immunology, and Genomics and Genetics.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Benki S, Mostad SB, Richardson BA, et al., "Cyclic shedding of HIV-1 RNA in cervical secretions during the menstrual cycle", J Infect Dis. 2004 Jun 15;189(12):2192-201.

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