Measles found to suppress HIV.A study in Africa found that viral load viral load n. The concentration of a virus, such as HIV, in the blood. viral load, n a measure of the number of virus particles present in the bloodstream, expressed as copies per milliliter. was apparently reduced by almost two logs during acute measles infection in children. After they recovered from measles, the HIV viral load HIV viral load AIDS A measure of the amount of HIV RNA in blood, expressed as number of copies/mL of plasma. See AIDS, HIV. came back. (1) Interpretation was complicated by the fact that no baseline viral loads were available for the children before they came down with measles. Instead, researchers measured viral load in children who had been hospitalized with measles, and found it surprisingly low -- a median of 5,339 copies. This compared to 387,000 copies in the same children at a one-month followup, after they had recovered from measles. A comparison group of children with HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. but without measles or other acute illness had a median viral load of 228,000. This reduction was all the more remarkable since an illness like measles would be expected to raise the viral load if it did anything -- due to increased immune activation. Comment At least one other disease -- scrub typhus scrub typhus: see rickettsia; typhus. -- has also been found to suppress HIV, but only in some patients. (2) Clearly we need research to identify the exact mechanism of viral suppression by measles or certain other diseases. It might be possible to use this knowledge to design a new class of treatment for HIV. References (1.) Moss WJ, Ryon JJ, Monze M, Cutts F, Quinn TC, and Griffin DE. Suppression of human immunodeficiency virus human immunodeficiency virus n. HIV. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) A transmissible retrovirus that causes AIDS in humans. replication during acute measles. The Journal of Infectious Diseases infectious diseases: see communicable diseases. . 2002; volume 185, pages 1035-1042. (2.) Watt G, Kantipong P, de Souza M, and others. HIV-1 suppression during acute scrub-typhus infection. The Lancet. August 5, 2000; volume 356, pages 475-479. |
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