Prevalence of asymptomatic parasitemia and gametocytemia among HIV-infected Ugandan children randomized to receive different antiretroviral therapies

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013 Apr;88(4):744-6. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.12-0658. Epub 2013 Jan 28.

Abstract

In a recent randomized controlled trial, the use of protease inhibitor (PI)-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) was associated with a significantly lower incidence of malaria compared with non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based ART in a cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-infected Ugandan children living in an area of high malaria transmission intensity. In this report, we compared the prevalence of asymptomatic parasitemia and gametocytemia using data from the same cohort. The prevalence of asymptomatic parasitemia did not differ between the two ART treatment arms. The PI-based arm was associated with a lower risk of gametocytemia at the time of diagnosis of malaria (6.6% versus 14.5%, P = 0.03) and during the 28 days after malaria diagnosis (3.4% versus 6.5%, P = 0.04). Thus, in addition to decreasing the incidence of malaria, the use of PI-based ART may lower transmission, as a result of a decrease in gametocytemia, in areas of high malaria transmission intensity.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Child, Preschool
  • Cohort Studies
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy*
  • HIV Infections / pathology
  • HIV Infections / virology
  • HIV Protease Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Infant
  • Malaria / diagnosis
  • Malaria / drug therapy*
  • Parasitemia / drug therapy*
  • Plasmodium / drug effects*
  • Plasmodium / pathogenicity
  • Prevalence
  • Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Risk Factors
  • Time Factors
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Trophozoites / drug effects*
  • Uganda

Substances

  • HIV Protease Inhibitors
  • Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors