Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1
RNA loads were determined for 256 subjects with early (incident)
HIV infection and for 1293 subjects with later (prevalent)
HIV infection, in a Ugandan cohort. Prevalent
infections were classified as latent (0-1 symptoms) and midstage disease (>/=2 symptoms), and deaths were ascribed to
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Among subjects with incident
HIV infection, HIV load did not differ by sex, but, among subjects with prevalent
HIV infection, it was higher in males than in females. HIV load was highest in subjects (25-29 years old) with incident
HIV infection but increased with age in subjects with prevalent
HIV infection.
Viremia was higher after serconversion than in latency and increased with more advanced disease.
Viremia was increased with genital
ulcer disease (GUD) in both subjects with incident
infection and in those with prevalent
infection, and with herpes simplex virus type 2 seropositivity in subjects with incident
HIV infection. GUD was consistently associated with higher HIV loads in subjects with incident and those with prevalent
HIV infection, suggesting that treatment of GUD might reduce HIV
viremia.