[HIV infection among type A and B hemophiliacs]

Evolution of HIV infection was studied in 480 hemophiliacs A and 78 hemophiliacs B treated in the "Centre-West" Region. 23.3% hemophiliacs A and 46.1% hemophiliacs B were contaminated by HIV. In this region, HIV seroprevalence in hemophiliacs A was lower than the prevalence noted at the national level (51.2%); this is certainly due to the use of frozen cryoprecipitates in the treatment of a high number of hemophiliacs A. A higher number of hemophiliacs B developed the disease: 12.5% hemophiliacs A versus 22% hemophiliacs B. Moreover hemophilic B patients had a more rapid evolution towards the disease since 6 out of 14 hemophiliacs A and 7 out of 8 hemophiliacs B with AIDS died. The fact that hemophiliacs B were significantly older than hemophiliacs A might be one of the reasons, but it must be noted that the contamination often occurred earlier in hemophiliacs B and was perhaps more important. The more severe evolution in the hemophiliac B group noted in our region is not found in American studies, which may be due to the different ways of preparing Factor IX concentrates in France and the United States.