Cent Afr J Med. 1999 Sep;45(9):231-4. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
OBJECTIVES: To determine HIV-1 RNA levels in plasma of HIV infected
Zimbabwean adults and to correlate these with CD4+ cell counts. DESIGN:
Prospective observational study. SETTING: Specialist Immunology
Laboratory, Harare, Zimbabwe. SUBJECTS: 49 consecutive HIV infected
patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: CD4+ cell counts and plasma HIV-1 RNA
levels. RESULTS: Based on the CDC HIV classification system five
patients were in early stage infection, 15 in middle, 17 in late and 12
in advanced stage of infection. The median CD4+ cell count was
165/microL (Q1 = 4; Q3 = 866). The median HIV-1 RNA levels were 73,097
RNA copies/ml (Q1 = 753; Q3 = 750,000). Eighty percent of the patients
had HIV-1 RNA levels > 10,000 copies/ml and 49% had > 100,000 RNA
copies/ml. Median viral loads among the four categories of infection
were found to be highly significant (p < 0.001). The correlation between
CD4+ cell counts and HIV-1 RNA copies for the 49 patients was highly
significant (r = -0.76; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: High treatment HIV-1
RNA levels were determined in the majority of patients. A highly
significant correlation was obtained between plasma HIV-1 RNA levels and
CD4+ cell counts.
JOURNAL ARTICLE Adult CD4 Lymphocyte Count Disease Progression
Female Human HIV Infections/*BLOOD/CLASSIFICATION/IMMUNOLOGY/*VIROLOGY
HIV-1/*GENETICS Male Middle Age Predictive Value of Tests
Prospective Studies Regression Analysis Reproducibility of Results
RNA, Viral/*BLOOD Severity of Illness Index *Viral Load Zimbabwe