The rate of serious bacterial infections among HIV-infected children with immune reconstitution who have discontinued opportunistic infection prophylaxis.

Objective: Receipt of highly active antiretroviral therapy is associated with a decrease in the incidence of opportunistic infections (OIs) among HIV-infected adults. The goal of Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group protocol 1008 was to evaluate prospectively the incidence of serious bacterial infections (SBIs) and other OIs after discontinuation of OI and/or Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis among HIV-infected pediatric subjects who experienced immune reconstitution while receiving stable antiretroviral therapy.

Methods: HIV-infected children and adolescents, 2 to 21 years of age, who had received OI and/or PCP prophylaxis for > or =6 months were enrolled if they had sustained responses (>16 weeks before study entry) to antiretroviral therapy, with CD4+ cell percentages of > or =20% for patients >6 years of age or > or =25% for patients 2 to 6 years of age.