Features of the course of COVID-19 and HIV co-infection

With the high incidence of the novel coronavirus infection (NCI; COVID-19), the prevalence of comorbidity, HIV infection in particular, is increasing worldwide. Objective. To assess the features of the course of the comorbidity of COVID-19 and HIV infection. Material and methods. A total of 584 case histories of patients with COVID-19 and HIV co-infection were retrospectively analyzed. Randomly selected 52 case histories of patients with this co-infection, of them there were 15 fatalities, are considered in more detail. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS16 software; and case descriptions were also applied lest the important data are lost in the global frequency population and fall into outliers or anomalies. Results. The hospitalized patients had different HIV infection stages; there was a preponderance of patients with stage IVB disease; most of whom did not receive antiretroviral therapy (ART) and had profound CD4+ T-lymphocyte immunodeficiency and a high viral load. Some patients had also an unfavorable premorbid background. At the initial hospitalization stages, the clinical presentation of the disease in 13% of the patients could not clearly differentiate COVID-19 and opportunistic infections affecting the respiratory organs. The impact of mutual aggravation of the course of the diseases was observed in patients with severe HIV infection and COVID-19. Of particular interest was a group of 20 patients with coinfection who had received ART before their hospital admission. One third of these patients were noted to have a HIV viral load in the presence of COVID-19. Conclusion. A number of HIV-infected patients showed a favorable course of COVID-19 during ART and scheduled therapy for COVID-19. In the early stages of the disease, HIV reactivation was observed in inpatients with COVID-19 who received ART. This was regarded as a surge in HIV viremia in some cases and as virus reactivation and the possible development of antiviral drug resistance in others.