https://doi.org/10.5812/kowsar.1735143X.817

The Effect of GBV-C Infection on CD4 Count and Viral Loads in Patients Infected With HIV

authors:

avatar Hossein Keyvani 1 , avatar Hossein Keyvani 1 , avatar Avid Mohammadi 1 , avatar Avid Mohammadi 2 , avatar Masoud Sabouri Ghannad 2 , * , avatar Masoud Sabouri Ghannad 3 , * , avatar Mahboobeh Hajabdolbaghi 1 , avatar Mahboobeh Hajabdolbaghi 4

School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran
Keyvan Virology Laboratory, Tehran, IR Iran
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran
AIDS Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran
Corresponding Authors:
Hepatitis Monthly: Vol.12, issue 1; 39-42
published online: December 31, 2011
article type: Research Article
received: July 12, 2011
accepted: January 7, 2012

How To Cite Keyvani H, Keyvani H, Mohammadi A, Mohammadi A, Sabouri Ghannad M, et al. The Effect of GBV-C Infection on CD4 Count and Viral Loads in Patients Infected With HIV. Hepat Mon. 2012;12(1): 39-42. https://doi.org/10.5812/kowsar.1735143X.817.

Abstract

Background:

The picture that has emerged from studies investigating HIV infected people with GBV-C viremia is that they have lower plasma HIV viral loads in comparison with HIV-positive people who did not have the GBV-C viremia.

Objectives:

Since GBV-C HIV coinfection has not been studied in Iran, we have designed a survey to study the outcomes of GBV-C infection on HIV infected individuals.

Patients and Methods:

We analyzed 78 serum samples from HIV-positive patients in Tehran. The HIV positive statue was confirmed by Western blot in our laboratory. Next we detected GBV-C RNA by RT nested-PCR and divided our patient into GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups. The final step was measuring the CD4 count and HIV viral load and comparing the means of the CD4 count and HIV viral load in HIV-infected individuals in the GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups.

Results:

We detected GBV-C RNA in 15 patients out of 78. The mean CD4 count was 607.13 compared to 415.87 in the GBV-C negative group and the difference was significant (P = 0.005). In contrast to the CD4 count there was no significant difference in HIV viral loads between HIV infected individuals in the GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups.

Conclusion:

Although there was no significant difference in the mean of the HIV viral load between the GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups, the significantly higher CD4 mean in the GBV-C positive group compared with the GBV-C negative group suggests a beneficial effect of this coinfection.

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