| Summary: | Bibliography: pages 91-99. === This study investigated relationships between the CD4 count and other clinical markers of the HIV disease, total lymphocyte count and viral load, in a South African population. The CD4 count has been an important clinical marker of disease progression in HIV infected individuals,,-and has been the focus of many studies in developed countries. Most of the studies reported in the literature have been done using data from well-defined cohorts of HIV patients. Similar studies in Africa do not appear to have been done. This study used clinical records of HIV infected individuals attending the Somerset Hospital HIV Clinic, over the period 1984-97, to study the relationship between the CD4 count and total lymphocyte count. From a practical perspective this relationship is important in South Africa for two reasons. Firstly, a majority of the HIV infected population is poor and can not afford the higher costs associated with the measurement of the CD4 count instead of the total lymphocyte count. .. Secondly, in many small clinics or hospitals in South Africa the equipment for measuring the CD4 count is generally not available but the equipment for measuring the total lymphocyte count is widely available.
|
|---|
