Discontinuation of Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia Prophylaxis with CD4 Count <200 Cells/µL and Virologic Suppression: A Systematic Review

HIV viral load (VL) is currently not part of the criteria for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis discontinuation, but suppression of plasma viremia with antiretroviral therapy may allow for discontinuation of PCP prophylaxis even with CD4 count <200 cells/µL.A systematic review was performed to determine the incidence of PCP in HIV-infected individuals with CD4 count <200 cells/µL and fully suppressed VL on antiretroviral therapy but not receiving PCP prophylaxis.Four articles examined individuals who discontinued PCP prophylaxis with CD4 count <200 cells/µL in the context of fully suppressed VL on antiretroviral therapy. The overall incidence of PCP was 0.48 cases per 100 person-years (PY) (95% confidence interval (CI) (0.06-0.89). This was lower than the incidence of PCP in untreated HIV infection (5.30 cases/100 PY, 95% CI 4.1-6.8) and lower than the incidence in persons with CD4 count <200 cells/µL, before the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), who continued prophylaxis (4.85/100 PY, 95% CI 0.92-8.78). In one study in which individuals were stratified according to CD4 count <200 cells/µL, there was a greater risk of PCP with CD4 count ≤100 cells/µL compared to 101-200 cells/µL.Primary PCP prophylaxis may be safely discontinued in HIV-infected individuals with CD4 count between 101-200 cells/µL provided the VL is fully suppressed on antiretroviral therapy. However, there are inadequate data available to make this recommendation when the CD4 count is ≤100 cells/µL. A revision of guidelines on primary PCP prophylaxis to include consideration of the VL is merited

Impaired CD4-cell immune reconstitution upon HIV therapy in patients with toxoplasmic encephalitis compared to patients with pneumocystis pneumonia as AIDS indicating disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>There is only little data on immune reconstitution in antiretroviral naïve AIDS-patients with toxoplasmosis. The observation of several cases with reduced increase of CD4-cells upon start of antiretroviral treatment (ART) prompted us to investigate the topic using the ClinSurv cohort.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>17 German HIV treatment centers contribute to ClinSurv, a multicentre observational cohort under the auspices of the Robert Koch Institute. We retrospectively selected all antiretroviral-naïve patients with toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) and -as comparator group -with pneumocystosis (PCP) between January 1999 and December 2005.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 257 patients were included in the analysis, 61 with TE and 196 with PCP. Demographic baseline data showed differences with regard to gender, transmission group, and baseline CD4⁺counts (60.9 vs. 44.7/μl, p = 0.022). After ART-initiation the increase in CD4⁺lymphocytes was lower in the TE-versus the PCP-group in the first, second and fourth three-month-period (74.4 vs. 120.3/μl, p = 0.006; 96.6 vs. 136.2/μl, p = 0.021; 156.5 vs. 211.5/μl, p = 0.013). Viral load (VL) was higher in the PCP-group at baseline (4.46 log₁₀cop/ml vs. 5.00 log₁₀cop/ml, p = 0.008), while virological success of ART was equal.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data show for the first time that the average CD4⁺T-cell increase of patients with toxoplasmosis is impaired compared to PCP-patients. Most clinicians would not be prepared to discontinue follow-up TE-therapy unless CD4⁺counts of 200/μl are reached. Explanation for our finding might be the myelosuppressive side effect of pyrimethamine, possible interactions of toxoplasmosis therapy with ART, or an unknown direct biological influence of toxoplasmosis on immune restoration.</p