Coinfection with HTLV-I and HIV: increase in HTLV-I-related outcomes but not accelerated HIV disease progression?
Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) and HTLV-II have been postulated to accelerate disease progression in patients coinfected with HIV. However, recent evidence suggests that HTLV-II has no effect on HIV disease progression. In addition, it has recently been reported that HIV viral load was not increased in subjects coinfected with HTLV-I, suggesting that the biologic basis for the hypothesis does not exist. Several recent studies in Brazil, however, suggest that coinfection with HTLV-I and HIV has substantial medical consequences. For example, coinfection was associated with a higher CD4 lymphocytes count following adjustment for HIV viral load or HIV clinical stage. In addition, coinfected subjects have a high prevalence of clinical significant myelopathy. The effect of other putative viruses as cofactors in HIV disease progression is also discussed.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
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D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D018450:Disease Progression; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015497:HIV-1; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1; D006801:Humans; D019562:Viral Load