Effect of Anti-Retroviral Therapy on Cd4+ T Lymphocyte Count in Hiv Infected Patients Attending Regional Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, Manipur

Abstract

The initiation of anti-retroviral therapy has reduced the HIV related mortality substantially .But recent reports of decreased efficacy have caused concerns even though it has helped to reduce the burden of opportunistic infections as well as disease progression. This study has been done to study the effect of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) on CD4 + T lymphocyte count in HIV infected and AIDS patients undergoing ART. METHOD: 624 HIV infected patients on ART during the period of February 2007 to February 2009 were included in the study. Effect of ART on CD4+ T lymphocyte count was done in these patients by using Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorter (FACS) count system. RESULTS: Of the 624 patients, 67.46% were males and 32.53% were females. Out of the 624 patients on ART, 95.35% (595/624) showed an increase in CD4 count while 4.64% (29/624) showed a decrease in CD4 count. Of this 89.10% (556/624) showed a continuous increase in their CD4 count without any fluctuation while 6.25% (39/24) showed increase in CD4 count although there was fluctuation during the period of 24 months and 2.88% (18/624) showed a continuous decrease in their CD4 count while 1.76% (11/624) showed decreasing trend although there was fluctuation during the period of 24months. CONCLUSION: The monitoring of CD4 count is useful to check the disease progression and effectiveness of ART.