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Updated: Sep 26, 2026

An In Vitro Model for Measuring Immune Responses to Malaria in the Context of HIV Co-infection
Published on: October 6, 2015
Effects of multiple virus coinfections on disease progression in HIV-positive patients
Biehuoy Shieh1, Ming-Jen Chang, Wen-Chien Ko
1Department of Biochemistry, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
Objective:
Since virus infections in AIDS patients are mostly inevitable and as they frequently cause disease deterioration and therapeutic failures, a comprehensive investigation was made of the influence of the coinfections of 9 well-known viruses on disease progression in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV).
Methods:
A cross-sectional study of 62 HIV-positive patients was conducted to correlate the prevalence rates for the 9 viruses with the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and CD4 cell counts of the patients.
Results:
The rates of HIV-positive patients infected with the 9 viruses are significantly higher than those of the control groups. Furthermore, almost one third of the patients in the studied group was coinfected with transfusion-transmitted virus (TTV) and manifested significantly higher ALT levels (p = 0.020), and these were raised further if coinfection with TTV and human hepatitis C virus had occurred (p = 0.010). By analyzing CD4 cell counts, the only significant effect on AIDS progression which could be detected was coinfection with human herpesvirus 8.
Conclusion:
This result confirmed that immune-suppressed persons are more vulnerable to common virus infections. Unlike hepatitis B or C virus, TTV seems to accelerate the progression of chronic hepatitis in HIV-infected patients.
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