title: HIV-1 variability and progression to AIDS: a longitudinal study.
abstract: HIV-1 replicative activity and its relation to the clinical and immunological evolution of infection was studied in a group of 150 HIV-1 seropositive Italian i.v. drug abusers over a 1 year period. HIV-1 was isolated from 90 (60%) subjects; two groups of isolates were distinguished, according to replicative activity "in vitro" and ability to induce cytopathic effects in cell cultures, and were termed "rapid-high" and "slow-low" viruses, in agreement with other workers. Rapid-high viruses were recovered more frequently from patients with ARC/AIDS, while slow-low viruses seemed related to the asymptomatic period of infection. The replicative properties of HIV-1 seem to affect strongly the course of disease. In fact, an important CD4 cell decline occurred in asymptomatic subjects with rapid-high virus infection; asymptomatic subjects with negative viral cultures or with slow-low viruses showed no such decline. Asymptomatic subjects with negative viral cultures had no signs of disease during the observation period, while 9% with slow-low virus and 45% with rapid-high virus progressed to AIDS.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Infectious Diseases, University of Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Calabró
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Angarano
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Rossi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fico
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pastore
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Bianchi
mesh_terms: D000386:AIDS-Related Complex / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003588:Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007700:Kinetics; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous; D014779:Virus Replication