September 2004 Cover
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A new study shows the detection of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in the blood of HIV patients
during follow-up was a better predictor of death than the HIV level itself. The new
findings add to the linkage of CMV with HIV progression by showing that the association has
continued
even since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the
mid-1990s.
The findings are based on a study of 374 HIV-infected patients seen after January
1, 1997, and followed-up for about 37 months. Nearly 95 percent of the patients received
HAART at some point in the study.
About 69 percent of patients tested negative for CMV throughout the study period.
By contrast, 4 percent of patients were persistently CMV-positive, and 27 percent were
intermittently positive. CMV positivity during follow-up doubled the risk of progressing to
AIDS
and quadrupled the risk of death. HIV levels during follow-up predicted progression to
AIDS, but not death.
Editor's Note: from Reuters Health
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