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Co‐infection with HIV‐1/ HTLV‐II and the risk of progression to AIDS and death
Author(s) -
Eskild Anne,
Samdal Helvi H.,
Heger Bernt
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1996.tb04927.x
Subject(s) - medicine , relative risk , epidemiology , immunology , transmission (telecommunications) , viral disease , antibody , confidence interval , risk factor , confounding , disease , virus , virology , electrical engineering , engineering
Human T‐cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) types I and II were the first discovered human retroviruses. While HTLV‐I has been clearly associated with disease, the health implications of HTLV‐II infection are still unsettled. A prospective epidemiological study of 409 HIV‐infected subjects of different transmission categories was performed to study the presence of HTLV‐II antibodies, and whether HTLV‐II antibodies are associated with the progression to AIDS and to death of any cause. Of 409 subjects, 30 (7.3%) were HTLV‐II positive at study entry; 2 subjects seroconverted during follow‐up. In the HTLV‐II‐positive group 2 were heterosexually HIV infected, 28 (of whom 2 were seroconverters) were IDUs and 2 were homosexual men. When controlling for transmission category, gender, age and CD4+ lymphocyte count at study entry, the relative risk of AIDS progression for the HTLV‐II‐positive group was 2.1 (0.8–5.1, 95% confidence interval (CI)) as compared to the HTLV‐II‐negative group. The adjusted relative risk of dying was 2.1 (1.0–4.3, 95% CI). When studying IDUs separately, the adjusted relative risk of AIDS progression was 2.3 (0.8–6.9, 95% CI) and the relative risk of dying was 2.0 (0.9–4.6, 95% CI). The results of this study suggest that HTLV‐II is a cofactor in HIV disease progression. The number of HTLV‐II‐infected subjects, was, however, small, and insufficient control of confounding factors must be taken into consideration.