Abstract

VICENTELLI, Rebeca; LLOVERA, Vilma; OVALLES DE R, Rosalba  and  PEREZ-YBARRA, Luis. Basal immunephenotyping in HIV-1 diagnosed persons in a regional immunology unit (URIC), Venezuela 2004-2006. Rev. Soc. Ven. Microbiol. [online]. 2008, vol.28, n.2, pp.134-138. ISSN 1315-2556.

During the course of HIV-1 infection immunephenotyping of infected individuals is important to determine the basal immunological status, as well for initiating and monitoring therapy, for the basal immunephenotyping of recentlyHIV-1 diagnosed individuals we carried out a descriptive and retrospective study at the regional immunology unit (URIC) in Maracay, Venezuela, between January 2004 and December 2006. In the 238 patients included (70.6% men and 29.4% women) we studied CD4/CD8 T lymphocyte numbers through flow cytometry. Age range varied between 2-74 years, and the largest number of cases corresponded to the 25-34 age group. We found CD+ counts under 200 Cells/mm³ in 39.7% individuals; 35.0% had values between 200-499 cells/mm³; and only 25.2% had values over 500 cells/mm³. CD8+ counts in 52.6% of patients were higher than 900 cells/mm³ and 15.8% had counts under 500 cells/mm³. The CD4/CD8 index was lower than 1.0 in 94.9% of the individuals, demonstrating a growing tendency to diagnose HIV infection at a late stage, as shown by the decreased CD4+ counts found. Nevertheless, an increase in the diagnosis of new cases in patients under 35 years and women was also determined.

Keywords : AIDS/HIV; CD4+ T lymphocytes; CD8+ T lymphocytes; CD4/CD8 index; immunephenotyping.