Leutschet P, Reimert CM, Christensen NO, Vennervald BJ; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 2000 Jul 9-14; 13: 53 (abstract no. LbPeC7079).
Institut Pasteur, Madagascar.
HIV-1 seropositive men are detected with increased seminal HIV-1 RNA concentrations in the presence of urethritis. The local generation of interleukins and tumor necrosis factor in response to bacterial infection has been suggested in being responsible for an increased transport into the urogenital tract of cells harbouring HIV-1 (e.g. mononuclear cells) and to enhance the rate of viral replication and release into semen. A similar relationship between male genital schistosoiasis (MGS) due to Schistosoma haematobium infection and increased HIV shedding in semen can be hypothesized. More than 50 million males are estimated infected with Schistosoma haematobium in Sub-Saharan Africa. Antigens and chemotactic factors secreted by the eggs attract a variety of cell types, including eosiniphilus, which may act as host for HIV-1. Moreover, immumocytological staining of human T cells derived from egg granulomas have shown that the CD4+ phenotype predominates. Postmortem studies have shown that the seminal vesicles and the prostate are almost as frequently involved as the bladder. Detection of eggs in 43% of semen samples with increased levels of eosiniphil cationic protein (ECP) in a recent community-based study in Madagascar confirms that S. haematobium infection frequently induces inflammatory alterations in the reproductive organs. In the same study it was found that leucocytospemia (>10 6 leucytes/ml semen) was associated with presence of eggs in the ejaculate. Schistosomasis associated lesions in the prostate and the seminal vesicles may facilitate establishments of secondary bacterial infections in these organs which could cause increased shedding of virus into semen. Furthermore, chronic schistosomiasis infection might impair the host's systemic immune response to HIV infection as observed in other parasitic diseases, consequently leading to increased HIV-1 levels in blood, and, thus enhanced risk of sexual transmission. The role of urogenital schistosomiasis in HIV transmission needs to be further elucidated in the future.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Africa South of the Sahara
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- HIV-1
- Humans
- Madagascar
- Male
- Risk Factors
- Schistosomiasis
- Schistosomiasis haematobia
- Semen
- Seminal Vesicles
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Urethritis
- transmission
Other ID:
UI: 102242596
From Meeting Abstracts