Which one of the following is true regarding HIV infection?
High-Yield Explanation
“Four week treatment with AZT monotherapy after needle stick exposure to HIV among health care worker decreases the chance of becoming infected by 79%.”
Guideliness for post exposure prophylaxis:
A combination of two nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors for 4 weeks for less severe exposures.
A combination of two nucleoside analogue RT inhibitor plus a third drug given for 4 weeks for more severe exposure.
Factors associated with increased risk of occupational transmission:
Deep injury.
Presence of visible blood on the instrument causing the exposure.
Injury with the device that has been placed in vein or artery of source patient.
Terminal illness of source patient.
Lack of post exposure antiretroviral therapy in exposed health worker.
- Best Predictor to disease progression is HIV RNA estimation, not CD4+ count.
- CD4+ count are the best indicator of immediate state of immunologic competence.
So, option ‘2’ is wrong.
Clinical latency versus microbial latency.
Clinical latency should not be confused with microbial latency, since virus replication is present in most patient.