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New test identified frequent HIV superinfection in Kenyan women
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SEATTLE — A team of researchers led by Keshet Ronen, PhD, identified HIV superinfection at the rate of 3.69% per person-years among 117 women in Kenya with the use of a new testing method known as ultra-deep pyrosequencing.
According to background information in the study abstract, large-scale screening for superinfection is required. However, current techniques are not modifiable to high-throughput screening.
“It has been known for about a decade that superinfection happens, but it has been difficult to get a precise estimate of how often it happens,” Ronen, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said here. “We are interested in understanding how often superinfection occurs when compared with initial infection because we think it will help us understand whether the immune response people develop to HIV can protect further infection.”
For this reason, Ronen and colleagues set out to assess plasma RNA from a cohort of 117 female sex workers in Kenya with the use of an ultra-deep pyrosequencing assay. Samples were analyzed within 6 months of HIV infection and within 2 years after infection; samples were then analyzed one to three more time points not specified.
Twelve cases of superinfection were identified in a previous screening of 56 women. For the current study, the researchers validated samples with the new testing method from six of the 56 women, of which two were superinfected. The test also identified HIV infection among all other women.
After evaluating an additional 54 women in the cohort with the new testing method, eight new superinfection cases were found, bringing the total to 19 cases of superinfection identified to date.
“We plan to screen an additional 30 women,” Ronen said. “At this early stage, the incidence of initial vs. superinfection based on these numbers is similar. We need to finish this study to make a formal comparison.”
For more information:
- Ronen K. #59LB. Presented at: 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections; March 5-8, 2012; Seattle.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
It is very important to know to what extent the initial immune response to one incoming virus is or is not protective to subsequent infection. What happens when you become superinfected with the natural history of the infection? Is your disease course the same or is it different? In fact, there already have been some studies suggesting that at least coinfected people have a more progressive disease course and there is no reason to believe that this couldn’t occur with superinfection.
– Beatrice Hahn, MD
Professor of Medicine and Microbiology
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
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