Virus population homogenization following acute human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection.

Understanding the properties of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) variants capable of establishing infection is critical to the development of a vaccine against AIDS. Previous studies of men have shown that the HIV-1 env gene is homogeneous early in infection, leading to the suggestion that infection is established by a single transmitted variant. However, we report here that all of eight homosexual men evaluated beginning 3.

Evidence for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication in vivo in CD14(+) monocytes and its potential role as a source of virus in patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy.

In vitro studies show that human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) does not replicate in freshly isolated monocytes unless monocytes differentiate to monocyte-derived macrophages. Similarly, HIV-1 may replicate in macrophages in vivo, whereas it is unclear whether blood monocytes are permissive to productive infection with HIV-1. We investigated HIV-1 replication in CD14(+) monocytes and resting and activated CD4(+) T cells by measuring the levels of cell-associated viral DNA and mRNA and the genetic evolution of HIV-1 in seven acutely infected patients whose plasma viremia had been <100 copies/ml for 803 to 1,544 days during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

Human herpesvirus 8 in the prostate glands of men with Kaposi's sarcoma.

The epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) resembles that of a sexually transmitted pathogen. However, human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), the proposed cause of KS, is found in semen only infrequently and at low titers. To determine whether HHV-8 was present in the urogenital tract, transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsies were obtained from six men with KS (five with concurrent HIV infection) and four without KS (three with concurrent HIV) and assayed for HHV-8 by PCR.

The effects of pharmacological and lentivirus-induced immune suppression on orbivirus pathogenesis: assessment of virus burden in blood monocytes and tissues by reverse transcription-in situ PCR.

We investigated the effects of pharmacological and lentivirus-induced immunosuppression on bluetongue virus (BTV) pathogenesis as a mechanism for virus persistence and induction of clinical disease. Immunologically normal and immunosuppressed sheep were infected subcutaneously with BTV serotype 3 (BTV-3), a foreign isolate with unknown pathogenicity in North American livestock, and with North American serotype 11 (BTV-11). Erythrocyte-associated BTV RNA was detected earlier and at greater concentrations in sheep treated with immunosuppressive drugs.

Genetic evaluation of suspected cases of transient HIV-1 infection of infants.

Detection of human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) on only one or a few occasions in infants born to infected mothers has been interpreted to indicate that infection may be transient rather than persistent. Forty-two cases of suspected transient HIV-1 viremia among 1562 perinatally exposed seroreverting infants and one mother were reanalyzed. HIV-1 env sequences were not found in specimens from 20; in specimens from 6, somatic genetic analysis revealed that specimens were mistakenly attributed to an infant; and in specimens from 17, phylogenetic analysis failed to demonstrate the expected linkage between the infant's and the mother's virus.