AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, September 20, 2004
Staff Medical Writers

According to a study from the Netherlands, "Using an optimized HIV co-culture protocol it was possible to isolate infectious HIV-2 variants from 6 HIV-2-infected individuals who had undetectable plasma viremia and maintained high CD4+ T-cell numbers for prolonged periods."

"This shows for the first time that HIV-2-infected individuals with no demonstrable in vivo virus production carry replication-competent virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The frequency of PBMCs with infectious virus was low, ranging from 0.01-0.9 infectious units per million (IUPM) CD4+ T cells with a median value of 0.2 IUPM," H. Blaak and coauthors reported.

"In comparison," said scientists, "viremic HIV-2-infected individuals had a 2-log higher median infectious load (36 IUPM, range 1-673; P = .003). HIV-2 infectious load correlated with CD4 counts (rs=-0.88, P < .0001)."

"The low infectious load in aviremic HIV-2-infected persons is reminiscent of what has been observed for HIV-1 infection controlled by highly active antiretroviral therapy," concluded Blaak.

Blaak and colleagues published the results of their research in Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (HIV-2-infected individuals with undetectable plasma viremia carry replication-competent virus in peripheral blood lymphocytes. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2004 Jul 1;36(3):777-782.

For additional information, contact H. Blaak, Erasmus MC, Department Virology, Room Ee1742A, POB 1738, NL-3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The publisher of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106-3621 USA.

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

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

Reference

Blaak H, Boers PH, Schutten M, et al., "HIV-2-Infected Individuals With Undetectable Plasma Viremia Carry Replication-Competent Virus in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes", J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2004 Jul 1;36(3):777-782.

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