Correlation of incubation period and progression to disease in HIV carriers.
Int Conf AIDS 1989 Jun 4-9; 5:171 (abstract no. A.561) Koch MG, Davidsen P, VonWelck U, Gonzalez JJ; Vardcentralen, S-546 00 Karlsborg, Sweden
Comparing about 50 different clinical follow-up studies from various regions in the world, we tried to define the progression rates of HIV infected persons to AIDS. The main problem is that different patient groups never are fully equivalent concerning important variables as their distribution into age and risk categories. Although a point of time may be known, when they were infected, it is usually unknown, when exactly they got infected. Comparing various studies, the co-factor time shows to dominate and to explain the apparent inconsistency of results referred by different authors. The shape of the probability distribution of incubation periods seems to be influenced by a continuous malignification of the dominating virus strain in the host, a feature we do know as enhancement of pathogenicity by repeated host passages, here, intraindividually, speeded up to a regularly occurring event by selective pressure due to the rapid antigenic drift of lentiviruses and their tendentially changing receptor tropism.
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, Probability, Follow-Up Studies, Human, ICA5
