HIV Re-infection Does Occur, Possibly with Serious Results
Yes, an HIV-infected person can become infected with a second strain of the AIDS virus through further risk behavior, and the re-infection may result in faster progression to AIDS. Does that happen often? Probably not, but there was considerable media attention two weeks ago to a case study published in the world’s foremost medical journal.Documentation of this case was easy, because soon after becoming infected initially, the patient enrolled in a study to test early HIV treatment. After two years of successful treatment, he was given an experimental vaccine designed to boost his own immune response against HIV, and his “drug cocktail” was dropped. However, a few months later, the patient’s viral level climbed dramatically. It turns out he’d recently had unprotected sex with several anonymous partners while vacationing in Brazil and had become infected with a second strain of HIV (sometimes called “superinfection”).
Researchers assume that a person’s immune response to one strain of HIV will typically prevent contracting a second strain of HIV, but this case reconfirms that superinfection definitely is possible. (Other cases have been documented.) Further, if the second HIV strain is drug-resistant or more pathogenic, it may “precipitate more rapid progression to AIDS.”
ASA has always urged HIVers to “Play Safe!” if they’re going to be intimate with someone, regardless of whether their partners’ HIV status is positive, negative, or unknown. Certainly, one must avoid transmitting the AIDS virus to others. But avoiding infections of all kinds (HIV, hepatitis, STDs) is good advice for anyone. It becomes especially important for those whose systems are already struggling with HIV.
[For details, see New England Journal of Medicine, 5 Sept 02 (Vol. 347, No. 10, p.731-736) and the accompanying editorial at p.756-758.]
This article appears in September 20 • 2002.