The Effect of GBV-C Infection on CD4 Count and Viral Loads in Patients Infected With HIV

BACKGROUND: The picture that has emerged from studies investigating HIV infected people with GBV-C viremia is that they have lower plasma HIV viral loads in comparison with HIV-positive people who did not have the GBV-C viremia. OBJECTIVES: Since GBV-C HIV coinfection has not been studied in Iran, we have designed a survey to study the outcomes of GBV-C infection on HIV infected individuals. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed 78 serum samples from HIV-positive patients in Tehran. The HIV positive statue was confirmed by Western blot in our laboratory. Next we detected GBV-C RNA by RT nested-PCR and divided our patient into GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups. The final step was measuring the CD4 count and HIV viral load and comparing the means of the CD4 count and HIV viral load in HIV-infected individuals in the GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups. RESULTS: We detected GBV-C RNA in 15 patients out of 78. The mean CD4 count was 607.13 compared to 415.87 in the GBV-C negative group and the difference was significant (P = 0.005). In contrast to the CD4 count there was no significant difference in HIV viral loads between HIV infected individuals in the GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups. CONCLUSION: Although there was no significant difference in the mean of the HIV viral load between the GBV-C positive and GBV-C negative groups, the significantly higher CD4 mean in the GBV-C positive group compared with the GBV-C negative group suggests a beneficial effect of this coinfection.