[Study on the influence of biological characteristics to HIV/HCV co-infection among HIV infected illegal blood donors in China].

Objective: To study the influence of biological characteristics on HCV/HIV co-infection, including HIV-1 sequence distance, HIV-1 viral load and CD4+ count.

Methods: HIV-1 sequence distance was calculated by Clustal W and Phylip software while HIV-1 viral load being tested by NASBA and CD4+ count was tested using Epics XL of Coulter. Significance was determined by t-test using SPSS 12.0.

Results: The mean HIV-1 genetic distances were 7.95% and 15.73% (P < 0.001) between those with HCV co-infection and those without. Their mean HIV-1 viral loads were 4.61 and 4.45 (P = 0.522) and their mean CD4I T counts were 308 and 251 (P = 0.161), respectively.

Conclusion: Data showed that in the study group, the HIV/HCV co-infection had an influence on the HIV sequence distance, but did not have major impact on HIV-1 viral load and their mean CD4+ T count.