HIV And Malaria Fuel Each Other

A study published in the Dec. 8, 2006 issue of Science supports the view that co-infection of HIV and malaria fuel each other. The study was conducted by the researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington at Kisumu, a town on the shores of Lake Victoria where there is a high incidence of malaria.

HIV is most easily spread when patients have high virus levels in their blood. Once a person with HIV contacts malaria, the level of the HIV virus surges by seven to ten times during a malaria fever episode. The surge may last up to eight weeks; but the patient recovers from the fever much earlier in intense malaria areas and becomes sexually active again. This significantly increases the risk of transmission of HIV to the sexual partner. On the other, persons with HIV are more susceptible to malaria, and so it continues.

This interaction between malaria and HIV infection may be causing both to spread more quickly in sub-Saharan Africa and this could explain why HIV is spreading more quickly than through sexual transmission alone in that region. The mathematical model applied in the study of an adult population of roughly 200,000 estimated that, since 1980, the disease interaction may have been responsible for 8,500 excess HIV infections and 980,000 excess malaria episodes. Co-infection might also have facilitated the geographic expansion of malaria in areas where HIV prevalence is high. The study concludes that transient and repeated increases in HIV viral load resulting from recurrent co-infection with malaria may be an important factor in promoting the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source:
Laith J. Abu-Raddad, Padmaja Patnaik, James G. Kublin. Dual Infection with HIV and Malaria Fuels the Spread of Both Diseases in Sub-Saharan AfricaScience 8 December 2006: Vol. 314. no. 5805, pp. 1603 - 1606
Available at
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/314/5805/1603 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/data/314/5805/1603/DC1/1
http://mediconews.com/2006/12/09/hiv-and-malaria-help-each-other-spread/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/