IMMUNOLOGICAL AND VIROLOGICAL CHANGES IN HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV) PATIENTS WITH HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV) CO-INFECTION ON ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY (ART) IN NORTH CENTRAL, NIGERIA.

Ya’aba Y.*, Mohammed S.B., Uba A., Ibrahim K. and Oladosu O.P.

ABSTRACT

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are two viruses with similar characteristics having in common diversities in numerous subtypes and capacities for mutation. A total of 2,322 infected patients with HIV and 109 co-infected with HCV on ART were reviewed after every three months for fifteen months from June, 2013 through February, 2015 at ART hospitals in North Central, Nigeria. The determination of CD4+ count and viral load estimation were carried out using Flow Cytometry (Partec-cyflow, Germany) and PCR based Amplicor HIV-1 monitor version 1.5 (Roche Diagnostic Systems, Branchburg, NJ, USA) according to manufactures instructions. The results of the blood samples showed that ART therapy increased CD4+ count from 231.7±1.9401 to 466.8±2.0285cells/μl and viral load was suppressed from 17786.59±3316.36 to 1371.86±131.04copies/ml for HIV mono-infected patients while the mean CD4+ cell counts of co-infected individuals increased from 157.4±3.945 to 329.9±5.3998cells/μl and viral load decreased from 22821.62±4098.53 to 10246.82±2169.98copies/ml. The differences in the values were statistically significant (p<0.05). In conclusion, the reports revealed that at the end of the 9th month of ART, the CD4+ counts and suppression of the viral particles and even the clinical picture of patients tend towards normalcy in HIV mono-infected but these analytes were not adequate even at the 15th month in detecting the success of ART in co-infected patients, when their CD4+ counts were compared with the normal adult range (365–1,571cells/μl). Therefore, clinicians should give more attention and care to those patients co-infected in order to offer quality care.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; ART; HCV; ARV, HIV/HCV, PCR.