title: Serum levels of virus burden in early-stage human immunodeficiency virus type 1 disease in women.
abstract: The fundamental clinical, viral, and immunologic features of early-stage human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease were examined in a seroprevalent cohort of 28 men and 14 women assessed longitudinally at three equally dispersed time points over a mean of 43 months. There were no gender differences in the relative risk of developing AIDS-defining end points or death. The median serum RNA levels assessed at the three study time points were 3.3-, 4.9-, and 1.5-fold lower, respectively, in women than in men. This suggests that while serum virus load may be as powerful a correlate of disease status in women as it is in men, the absolute values of the virus levels may be different in the 2 populations. These observations may have implications for the interpretation of levels of virus burden in women for the assessment of disease progression, transmission, and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas 78236-5300, USA.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nims
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cooley
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jagodzinski
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Melcher
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vahey
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000821:virology*; D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014766:Viremia / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral