No Role of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 (HSV-2) Infection on HIV Progression in Naïve HIV Patients

Authors
Minoo Mohraz 1
Arezoo Aghakhani 2
Saeedeh Moayedi-Nia 1
Mohammad Banifazl 3
Alireza Janbakhsh 4
Setareh Mamishi 5
Afsaneh Karami 6
Anahita Bavand 2
Pegah Mirzapour 1
Amitis Ramezani 2
1 Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Clinical Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
3 Iranian Society for Support of Patients with Infectious Disease, Tehran, Iran
4 Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
5 Pediatric Infectious Disease Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
6 Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran
10.22034/ibj.22.2.123
Abstract
Background: Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is a common infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients and may accelerate HIV progression by rising HIV viral load and decreasing CD4 count. However, the available data regarding the influence of HSV-2 seropositivity on HIV progression in HIV individuals are inconclusive. Therefore, we aimed to determine HSV-2 seroprevalence in naïve HIV patients and normal controls and also investigate the relation of HIV viral load and CD4 count with HSV-2 seropositivity. Subsequently, we investigated the association of HSV-2 serostatus with changing in CD4 count and HIV viral load in our subjects, after one year follow-up. Methods: In this study, 116 naïve HIV patients and 85 healthy controls from Tehran, Iran were enrolled. HSV-2 IgG antibody was detected by ELISA. CD4 count was determined by flowcytometry, and serum HIV RNA copy numbers were determined using real-time PCR. Results: The prevalence of HSV-2 IgG was 18.1% in naïve HIV patients and 0% in the control group (P = 0.000). HSV-2 seroconversion was observed in 2.43% of HIV patients after one year. There was no significant difference regarding HSV-2 serostatus with CD4 count and HIV RNA viral load in our study cohort at baseline and after one year. Conclusion: Our results revealed that the prevalence and incidence of HSV-2 infection are low in our HIV cases, and it is negligible in the control group. However, it seems that HIV/HSV2 co-infection has no role on HIV infection acceleration.
Keywords
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)
serology
CD4 lymphocyte count
Viral load