SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in persons living with HIV: a single center prospective cohort

Maggiolo, Franco; Zoboli, Fabio; Arosio, Marco; Valenti, Daniela; Guarneri, Davide; Sangiorgio, Lorena; Ripamonti, Diego; Callegaro, Annapaola

BACKGROUND: Information about SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in HIV‐infected individuals is scarce. METHODS: In this prospective study, we included HIV‐infected individuals (PLWHIV) with confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and compared them with PLWHIV negative for SARS‐CoV‐2. RESULTS: we compared 55 cases of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection with 69 asymptomatic PLWHIV negative for SARS‐CoV‐2 RT‐PCR and/or serology. There was no significant difference between SARS‐CoV‐2 positive or negative patients for age distribution, gender, time with HIV infection, nadir CD4‐cell counts, type and number of co‐morbidities, current CD4 and CD8 counts and type of anti‐HIV therapy. Positive patients presented with a median of 3 symptoms (IQR 1‐3). Most common symptoms were fever (76%), dyspnoea (35%), anosmia (29%) non‐productive cough (27%), fatigue 22%) and ageusia (20%). Ten patients (18%) were completely asymptomatic. Four (7.2%) subjects died of COVID‐19. Factors significantly (P<0.05) associated with death included age and number of co‐morbidities, while time from HIV infection and lower current CD4 counts were significant only in univariate analysis. CONCLUSION: HIV‐infected individuals are not protected from SARS‐CoV‐2 infection or have a lower risk of severe disease. Indeed, those with low CD4 cell counts might have worse outcomes. Infection is asymptomatic in a large proportion of subjects and this is relevant for epidemiological studies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.