Plasma Viral Load in HIV-1 and HIV-2 Singly and Dually Infected Individuals in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

Abstract

The differences between HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection are likely to be caused by differences in plasma viral set point and load, but the mechanisms through which HIV-2 infection is contained to a higher degree than HIV-1 remain to be identified. Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:3286-3293.

Baseline characteristics, response to and outcome of antiretroviral therapy among patients with HIV-1, HIV-2 and dual infection in Burkina Faso

“…Second, HIV-1-infected individuals tended to initiate ART at a much earlier age than those with HIV-2 or dual infection, a finding probably explained by the slower progression of disease with HIV-2, [3][4][5][6]8 and an HIV-2 protective effect conferred in dual infection. 23 The fact that median baseline CD4 counts were higher for HIV-2 and dual infection than HIV-1 is further evidence that HIV-2 and dual infection are associated with slower progression and probably lower virulence. The finding that the proportion of children among those with HIV-2 was smaller than for HIV-1 corroborates the finding of previous studies that rates of vertical transmission of HIV-2 are much lower than for HIV-1 (20-30 times lower in some studies).…”

Robust Gag-specific T cell responses characterize viremia control in HIV-2 infection

“…Infection with HIV-2 is associated with a reduced rate of progression to AIDS (1) and significantly lower levels of plasma viral RNA (2,3) in spite of similar proviral load (4) and a 30%-60% sequence homology between the 2 viruses (5). Consequently, the majority of HIV-2-infected individuals are asymptomatic and die of causes unrelated to immunodeficiency (1).…”

HIV - 2 Infections from a Tertiary Care Hospital in India - A Case Report

“…It was seen that more discordant couples exist with HIV-2 infection than HIV-1 infection as was seen in our case and his spouse in spite of having regular unprotected sex. Reason being that compared to HIV-1, those with HIV-2 are less infectious early in the course of infection [13,14]. No guidelines regarding the clinical treatment and care of patients infected with HIV-2 are available yet.…”