Potential Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in HIV-positive Patients in South Africa

Coronaviruses are important causes of infection in both humans and animals. While in the past they were considered to be relatively harmless respiratory pathogens, outbreaks of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome, and currently SARS-CoV-2, have confirmed how serious these pathogens can be in respiratory tract infections. Certain conditions and underlying comorbidities are known to be risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection, and for associated severe disease, including older age, underlying chronic cardiovascular and respiratory conditions and diabetes mellitus. There are a number of additional conditions and comorbidities that are suspected as being important risk factors, but for which hard evidence is currently lacking. This includes underlying human immunodeficiency virus infection, which represents the major focus of this current survey of the scientific literature.