Résumé
A CD4 count External Quality Assessment (EQA) program is important for the clinical monitoring of persons infected with HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the CD4 EQA performance program of the flow cytometer laboratories that perform routine CD4 counts for these patients in Thailand. Stabi-lized whole blood samples were sent to participating laboratories to determine the percentage and absolute counts of CD4+ T-lymphocytes using their routine procedures. The data were analyzed and reports sent to the participants within one month. Most participating laboratories produced results that were within two standard deviations (SD) of the mean, while the average inter-laboratory coefficients of variation were less than 8% for CD4+ T-lymphocytes. This program was found to improve the reliability of CD4+ T-lymphocyte determinations. This test is becoming in-creasingly important as Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries scale up their national programs that provide access to antiretroviral therapy for persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Résumé
HIV-infected patients may have frequent atopy caused by an imbalance of Th1 and Th2 cytokines. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether IL-2 given in addition to antiretrovirals (ARV) would result in lower IgE levels and less allergic symptoms. Patients naive to IL-2 (n=28) began IL-2 plus ARV and were followed for 12 months. IgE, eosinophil and CD4 counts, HIV RNA, symptom scoring, PFT and skin prick test (SPT) were performed. It was found that the baseline median CD4 and IgE were 386.5 cells/mm3 and 63.5 IU/ml, respectively. Four patients had allergic rhinitis (AR) and 61% had a positive SPT to at least 1 antigen. At month 12, patients had higher CD4 counts (p < 0.001) compared to the baseline; however, there were no differences in IgE levels, allergic symptom scores or HIV RNA. The eosinophil count was higher after IL-2 administration. It was concluded that IL-2 plus ARV resulted in higher CD4 counts but had no effect on atopy.