2006, Volume 12 No. 1

LETTER TO EDITOR

Nutrients and Immunity Status of HIV-1-seropositive Drug Addicts

SK Nazrul Islam¹, Kazi Jahangir Hossain¹ and Monira Ahsan^2
1 Institute of Nutrition and Food Science
² Department of Pharmacutical Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangldesh

Dear Editor,

We report here the serum nutrients and immunity status ("immunonutrients profile") of HIV-1-seropositive drug addicts. Our investigation showed that the HIVseropositive addicts had poor nutritional status with multiple nutrient deficiencies, particularly of protein, cholesterol, alpha-tocopherol, copper and zinc. They had an expected increase of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgM), monocytes, neutrophils and decrease of lymphocytes. The results were compared with non-HIV drug addicts.

It has been documented that multiple immunonutrient deficiencies are prevalent in HIV infection (Baum and Shor-Ponser, 1998; Baum et a/, 1995) and drug addiction (Varela et al., 1997), and this is recognised as a significant prognostic factor in advanced disease (Salomon et al., 2002). Multiple nutrient deficiencies progressively destroy immunity affecting various immune parameters. The present study comprised of 10 HIV-1-sero-positive and twenty HIV-sero-negative drug addicts. HIV-1-seropositivity was screened and confirmed by ELISA and LIA (Line Immunoassay) using immunoassay kits (ABBOTT, UK). Analyses of immunonutrients were performed by spectrophotometry, HPLC, Atomic Absorption Flame Emission spectrophotometry and ELISA methods. Data were analysed by SPSS software package (version 10.0 SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA).

Our results showed that the HIV-1-seropositive drug addicts had poor nutritional status, suffering from protein-energy malnutrition and multiple immunonutrient deficiencies (Table 1). These results correspond with the reports of others (Salomon et al., 2002; Baum & Shor-Ponser, 1998; Baum et al., 1995). The HIV-1-seropositives had increased IgG and IgM, and decreased lymphocytes, which might be due to HIV infection and multiple immunonutrient deficiencies or malnutrition (Varela et al., 1997). The higher concentrations of neutrophils (neutrophilia) and monocytes (monocytosis) might also be associated with HIV infection.

It is revealed from this study that HIV infection induces a wide spectrum of immunonutrient deficiencies.

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