HIV-1 transmissions during asymptomatic infection: exploring the impact of changes in HIV-1 viral load due to coinfections
Author(s)
Baggaley, RF
Hollingsworth, TD
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Abstract: High HIV-1 plasma viral loads (PVLs) in sub-Saharan Africa, partly because of high rates of coinfection, may have been one of the drivers of the “explosive” epidemics seen in that region. Using a previously published framework of infectiousness and survival, we estimate the excess onward HIV-1 transmission events (secondary infections) resulting from coinfection-induced changes in PVL during asymptomatic HIV-1 infection. For every 100 HIV-infected people, each suffering 1 episode of tuberculosis infection, there are 4.9 (2.7th–97.5th percentile: 0.2–21.5) excess onward HIV-1 transmission events attributable to this coinfection. Other estimates are malaria 0.4 (0.0–2.0), soil-transmitted helminths 3.1 (0.1–14.9), schistosomiasis 8.5 (0.2–38.6), filariasis 13.3 (0.3–89.2), syphilis 0.1 (0.0–1.6), herpes simplex virus 4.0 (0.0–24.2), and gonorrhea 2.1 (0.1–8.0) transmissions. If these higher PVLs confer a shorter life expectancy and higher infectiousness, then their impact on transmission is, in general, reduced. For most HIV-1 coinfections, the duration of a single infection is too short and/or the associated PVL elevation is too modest to contribute substantially to onward HIV-1 transmission.
Date Issued
2015-04-15
Date Acceptance
2014-11-05
Citation
Jaids-Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2015, 68 (5), pp.594-598
ISSN
1944-7884
Publisher
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
Start Page
594
End Page
598
Journal / Book Title
Jaids-Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Volume
68
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License, where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially.
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Immunology
Infectious Diseases
HIV
transmission
viral load
tuberculosis
malaria
helminth
herpes
coinfections
IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1
PLACEBO-CONTROLLED TRIAL
HERPES-SIMPLEX-VIRUS
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY
DISEASE PROGRESSION
CELL COUNT
ACYCLOVIR
PLASMA
RNA
Publication Status
Published