IMMUNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF A COHORT OF HIV-2 INFECTED PATIENTS: PECULIARITIES OF AN UNDERESTIMATED INFECTION

Abstract

"IMMUNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF A COHORT OF HIV-2 INFECTED PATIENTS: PECULIARITIES OF AN UNDERESTIMATED INFECTION" Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 2 (HIV-2) affects a minority of patients in Italy; nevertheless, the increasing migratory flow from higher prevalence areas led to the spread of this virus into our Country. We evaluate clinical, viro-immunological and therapeutic characteristics of patients with HIV-2 infection and HIV-1/HIV-2 dual-infection and the early treatment impact on overall survival and incidence of AIDS event. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed all HIV-2 and HIV-1/HIV-2 positive patients followed in a large Italian clinic from January 1987 to December 2020. We recorded demographic, viro-immunological, clinical and therapeutics data. We performed a descriptive analysis followed by a longitudinal analysis to explore the factors associated with CD4+ lymphocyte trend; lastly, we studied in a multivariable model the possible predictors of death and AIDS in our cohort. Results: 32 subjects were enrolled, 17 (53%) HIV-2 infected and 15 (46.8%) HIV-1/HIV-2 dual-infected; 12 patients were lost to follow up, while 3 died. We found a lack of HIV-2 viremia in 12/32 subjects (37.5%).Most of the patients at baseline had a good viro-immunological profile with HIV-2 RNA <200 copies/ml and CD4+ lymphocyte >200 cell/mcl.