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Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology
Medknow Publications on behalf of Indian Association of Medical Microbiology
ISSN: 0255-0857 EISSN: 0255-0857
Vol. 26, No. 3, 2008, pp. 217-221
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Bioline Code: mb08069
Full paper language: English
Document type: Special Article
Document available free of charge
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Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2008, pp. 217-221
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Evidence for lower CD4 + T cell and higher viral load in asymptomatic HIV-1 infected individuals of India: Implications for therapy initiation
Kannangai, R; Kandathil, AJ; Ebenezer, DL; Nithyanandam, G; Samuel, P; Abraham, OC; Sudarsanam, TD; Pulimood, SA & Sridharan, G
Abstract
Purpose: We have earlier documented that the south Indian population had lower CD4 counts. The aim of this study was to investigate a previous suggestion on a new CD4+ T cell cut off and association with HIV-1 RNA levels for decision on anti retroviral therapy in India (south).
Methods: We evaluated a new methodology i.e., artus real-time PCR and CD4+ T cell count by Guava EasyCD4™ system. From 146 HIV infected individuals seen at a tertiary care centre, blood was collected for CD4+ T cell and HIV-1 RNA estimation.
Results: The receiver operating characteristic curve cut off value for the CD4 counts to distinguish between CDC clinical categories A and B was 243 cells/μL, and to distinguish B and C was 153 cells/μL. The RNA level that differentiated CDC A and B was 327473 RNA copies/mL, while for CDC B and C was 688543 copies/mL. There was a significant negative correlation (r = -0.55, P < 0.01) between the RNA estimated and CD4+ T cell counts in HIV infected individuals.
Conclusions: A majority with CD4 counts of 201-350 cells/μL in our population had higher viral load than the treatment threshold suggested by the International AIDS society and the above two methodologies are useful in monitoring HIV infections.
Keywords
Artus HIV-1 real-time PCR, Gauva easyCD4 assay, HIV, India
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© Copyright 2008 Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology. Alternative site location: http://www.ijmm.org
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