Objective: A retrospective study of the correlation between CD4 lymphocytes and the viral load in 16 HIV-patients with tuberculosis.
Material and methods: The clinical forms of presentation of tuberculosis were classified according to the location/s of the disease into: pulmonary, distinguishing between typical pulmonary and atypical according to the radiological pattern; extrapulmonary; mixed forms: pulmonary and extrapulmonary; and miliary tuberculosis.
Results: Tuberculosis was exclusively pulmonary in 7 cases (44%), all were atypical; extrapulmonary 6 (38%); mixed 2 (12%); and miliary 1 (6%). The mean CD4 lymphocyte count was 111.1 (range 5-360), in 11 (69%) the counts were below 200 cells/mm3. The lowest CD4 count was in the mixed forms with a mean of 45 cells/mm3 whilst the highest was obtained in pulmonary forms with a mean of 128.3 cells/mm3. The mean viral load was 4.82 log (range, 0-5.93), the highest load was for mixed forms with a mean 5.69 log, whereas the lowest load was for pulmonary forms with a mean of 4.19 log. No significant correlation was observed between CD4 lymphocytes and viral load (correlation coefficient--0.1163).
Conclusions: Though no significant correlation was observed, a high CD4 was associated to a low viral load and inversely a low CD4 with a high viral load.