HIV/AIDS Coinfection: Positive association found between HIV and filariasis and between malaria and HIV

AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, June 26, 2006
Staff Medical Writers

"The relationship between HIV, lymphatic filariasis, malaria (Plasmodium falciparum) and intestinal helminths (Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworm) was assessed in a cross-sectional study conducted in 2002 among 907 adults in Tanga Region, Tanzania.

"Overall prevalences were 7.9% for HIV, 43.5% for Wuchereria bancrofti-specific circulating filarial antigen (CFA), 12.3% for P. falciparum, 1.2% for A. lumbricoides, 7.1% for T. trichiura and 75.7% for hookworm," researchers in Denmark reported.

According to N.O. Nielsen and colleagues at DBL - Institute for Health Research & Development in Charlottenlund, "Anemia was assessed separately for mates and females and was found to be more prevalent among females (58.8%) than mates (34.8%).

"When sex and age were controlled for, there was a statistically significant positive association between HIV and W bancrofti (CFA) infection and between malaria and HIV, but not between malaria and W bancrofti (CFA) infection."

The authors continued, "Hookworm infection was positively associated with W bancrofti (CFA) infection but, surprisingly, negatively associated with HIV. Infection with HIV and hookworms, but not malaria, was associated with a significant reduction in hemoglobin concentration."

"These associations are likely to reflect underlying mechanisms that need to be clarified to better understand the role of coinfections in HIV pathogenesis, and vice versa," concluded investigators.

Nielsen and colleagues published their study in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (Cross-sectional relationship between HIV, lymphatic filariasis and other parasitic infections in adults in coastal northeastern Tanzania. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2006 Jun;100(6):543-50).

For more information, contact N.O. Nielsen, DBL Institute for Health Research & Development, Jaegersborg Alle 1D, Charlottenlund 2920, Denmark.

Publisher contact information for the journal Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene is: Royal Society Tropical Medicine, Manson House 26 Portland Place, London W1N 1EY, England.

Keywords: Charlottenlund, Denmark, HIV/AIDS, Filariasis, Malaria, Infection Association.

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

Reference

Nielsen NO, Simonsen PE, Magnussen P, et al., “Cross-sectional relationship between HIV, lymphatic filariasis and other parasitic infections in adults in coastal northeastern Tanzania”, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2006 Jun;100(6):543-50.

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