EVALUATION OF THE EFFICACY OF ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY IN HIVSEROPOSITIVE INDIVIDUALS IN MUMBAI â€“ A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIRAL LOAD & CD4+ TLYMPHOCYTE COUNT

Dr. Rekha Dhamnaskar; Dr. Surekha Prabhu; Dr. Yogesh Pawade; Ms. M. P. Biswas

Volume : V, Issue : VII, July - 2016

EVALUATION OF THE EFFICACY OF ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY IN HIVSEROPOSITIVE INDIVIDUALS IN MUMBAI â€“ A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIRAL LOAD & CD4+ TLYMPHOCYTE COUNT

Dr. Rekha Dhamnaskar, Dr. Surekha Prabhu, Dr. Yogesh Pawade, Ms. M. P. Biswas

Abstract :

Both viral load and CD4+ T cell count has a role in the routine laboratory monitoring of patients with HIV infection, for assessing the response to anti–retroviral therapy (ART) over time. In the present study, the sample population consisted of 180 HIV–seropositive individuals from Mumbai in the age group 25 – 75 years. The viral load in ART–na�ve individuals significantly dropped while CD4+ T cell count significantly raised after ART initiation (P < 0.0001). Viral load from the ART–na�ve and ART–treated individuals exhibited a negative correlation with CD4+ T lymphocyte count (r = –0.2758, P < 0.02 for ARTna�ve and r = –0.1404, P < 0.16 for ART–treated samples). The HIV–1 RNA level and CD4+ T cell count achieved at the end of 12 weeks of ART with fixed dose combination of zidovudine, lamivudine and nevirapine were important predictors of subsequent virologic and immunologic outcomes picturing its clinical effectiveness.