COVID‐19 and AIDS: outcomes from the co‐existence of two global pandemics and the importance of chronic antiretroviral therapy

Patel, Raj H.; Acharya, Arpan; Mohan, Mahesh; Byrareddy, Siddappa N.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), has created a worldwide pandemic, raising multitude of challenges and uncertainties regarding disease management specific to immunocompromised patient populations. Despite over ~16 million confirmed cases of COVID‐19 worldwide as of July 25, 2020, there is a dearth of reports describing the co‐infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and SARS‐CoV‐2. There are various unknowns regarding the simultaneous impact from these two diseases, despite the fact that the majority of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are immunocompromised and have comorbidities which can predispose them to severe clinical symptoms, and poorer prognosis, from COVID‐19. A large majority of reports indicate that HIV patients with normal CD4 T‐cell counts and suppressed viral loads and receiving regular, chronic antiretroviral therapy (cART) do not present with a severe clinical course of COVID‐19 and may not be at an increased risk of developing SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. These favorable indications for HIV patients may be the byproduct of a potential protective factor conferred by antiretroviral therapy which has also been used successfully in previous coronavirus epidemics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.