Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and syphilis coinfection on HIV-ribonucleic acid (RNA) viral load, CD4 cell count, and the response in rapid plasmin reagin (RPR) to treatment of the syphilis infection.
STUDY DESIGN: Cases of syphilis diagnosed during 1 year in HIV-infected patients in Copenhagen were included. HIV-RNA, CD4 cell counts, and RPR-serology were measured before, during, and after syphilis.
RESULTS: Forty-one patients were included. CD4 cell count decreased significantly during infection in patients with primary and secondary stages of syphilis (mean 106 cells/mm, P = 0.03). Treatment of syphilis was associated with an increase in the CD4 cell count and a decrease in HIV-RNA in the overall group (mean 66 cells/mm and -0.261 RNA log10 copies/ml, P = 0.02 and 0.04). The serological response rates for 15 patients treated with penicillin and 25 treated with doxycycline were the same.
CONCLUSION: Syphilis was associated with a decrease in CD4 cell counts and an increase in HIV-RNA levels that both improved after treatment of syphilis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Sexually Transmitted Diseases |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 143-8 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISSN | 0148-5717 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2006 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Adult
- Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use
- Anti-HIV Agents/therapeutic use
- CD4 Lymphocyte Count
- Denmark/epidemiology
- Doxycycline/therapeutic use
- Female
- HIV Infections/complications
- HIV-1/physiology
- Humans
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Penicillins/therapeutic use
- RNA, Viral/blood
- Reagins/blood
- Syphilis/complications
- Treatment Outcome
- Viral Load