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A Survey for COVID-19 Among HIV/AIDS Patients in Two Districts of Wuhan, China

19 Pages Posted: 13 Mar 2020

See all articles by Wei Guo

Wei Guo

Wuhan University - Department of Pathology

Fangzhao Ming

Wuchang District Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Yu Dong

Wuhan University - Department of Geriatrics

Qian Zhang

Qingshan District Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Xiaoxia Zhang

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease

Pingzheng Mo

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease

Yong Feng

Wuhan University - State Key Laboratory of Virology

Ke Liang

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease; Wuhan University - Department of Nosocomial Infection; Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences - Wuhan Research Center for Infectious Diseases and Cancer; Wuhan University - Center of Preventing Mother-to-child Transmission for Infectious Diseases

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Abstract

Background: There were over 49 thousand Coronavirus infected diseases-19(COVID-19) patients in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China, the center of epidemic of the disease. Over 5000 HIV/AIDS patients live in Wuhan. No data on the morbidity of COVID-19 in HIV/AIDS patients have been published to date.

Methods: In this study, we investigated 1178 HIV/AIDS patients in two central districts in Wuhan city. Whether they have any clinical presentations and whether they contacted any confirmed COVID-19 patients were inquired. The results for nucleic acid test (NAT) of SARS-CoV-2 and CT scan in those with clinical symptoms or contact history were investigated. The antiretroviral regimens of all these patients and other information, like age, sex, CD4+T cell counts (CD4 counts), HIV viral load (HIV-VL) were also collected. The risk factors for the COVID-19 in HIV/AIDS patients were analyzed.

Findings: We found 12 individuals in 1174 HIV/AIDS patients who presented clinical symptoms, and 8 of them were confirmed COVID-19. Six of them were NAT confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 2 were clinical confirmed cases. Six of the 8 COVID-19 patients had CD4 counts> 350/µl, and 2 with CD4 counts between 101-350/µl. All of the 8 patients have a low HIV-VL<20 copies/ml. The older age is the risk factor to occur COVID-19 in HIV/AIDS. All the 8 COVID-19 patients were from 947 individuals (0.84%) who took NRTI+NNRTI as antiretroviral regimen. In those who have no symptoms, there were another 9 HIV/AIDS patients had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients, and only 1 of them was confirmed positive by NAT.

Interpretation: Our findings indicated that the compromised immunity might be the reason that HIV/AIDS patients did not occur inflammatory changes and clinical symptoms, which support the early usage of corticosteroids in treatment for COVID-19. At the same time, the usage of LPV/r may potentially help to prevent or treat COVID-19.

Funding Statement: This work was supported by the grant of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81471940) to Y.F.

Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University Institutional Review Board and the need for informed consent was waived.

Keywords: COVID-19; HIV/AIDS; SARS-CoV-2; Survey; Wuhan

Suggested Citation

Guo, Wei and Ming, Fangzhao and Dong, Yu and Zhang, Qian and Zhang, Xiaoxia and Mo, Pingzheng and Feng, Yong and Liang, Ke, A Survey for COVID-19 Among HIV/AIDS Patients in Two Districts of Wuhan, China (3/4/2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3550029 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3550029

Wei Guo

Wuhan University - Department of Pathology

Hubei, 430071
China

Fangzhao Ming

Wuchang District Center for Disease Control and Prevention

China

Yu Dong

Wuhan University - Department of Geriatrics

Wuhan
China

Qian Zhang

Qingshan District Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Wuhan, 430080
China

Xiaoxia Zhang

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease

China

Pingzheng Mo

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease ( email )

China

Yong Feng (Contact Author)

Wuhan University - State Key Laboratory of Virology ( email )

Wuhan
China

Ke Liang

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease ( email )

Wuhan, Hubei
China

Wuhan University - Department of Nosocomial Infection

Wuhan
China

Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences - Wuhan Research Center for Infectious Diseases and Cancer

Wuhan
China

Wuhan University - Center of Preventing Mother-to-child Transmission for Infectious Diseases

Wuhan
China