Shingles Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Shingles, including details on symptoms, treatment, causes, virus.

Herpes zoster as an immune restoration disease in AIDS patients during therapy including protease inhibitors.

Dunić I, Djurković-Djaković O, Vesić S, Zerjav S, Jevtović D

Institute of Dermatovenereology, School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade. iva001@eunet.yu

A prospective study to evaluate the incidence of herpes zoster (HZ) as an immune restoration disease in patients with AIDS during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was conducted in a series of 115 patients diagnosed with AIDS initiated on HAART between 1 January 2000 and 31 July 2001. Of these, a single dermatomal HZ episode occurred in 14 (12%) patients within one and 15 months of HAART (median eight months). The HZ patients were similar to the non-HZ patients in age, sex, and HIV transmission risk factor, but had a more advanced disease. Compared with the baseline values, the viral loads significantly (P<0.01) decreased, while the mean CD4+ T-cell counts increased by almost four-fold (P<0.01) in both groups at the time of the HZ episode (or equivalent in non-HZ), but remained below 400/mL in the HZ patients. HZ during HAART is an immunopathological consequence of the improvement of the host immuneresponse, correlating with the beginning of immune restoration.

Published 11 July 2005 in Int J STD AIDS, 16(7): 475-8.
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