Longitudinal changes in hematologic manifestations of HIV infection in the multicenter AIDS cohort study (MACS).

The most common cause of HIV disease throughout the world is HIV-I which was first iden-tified in West Africa. Since the first cases of AIDS were reported in 19811, more than 179,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States and 113,000 (63%) of these patients have died2. This disease is now a leading cause of death among men and women un-der 45 years old and of children under 5 years. Hematological derangements and anaemia with a trend towards iron deficiency are common. The negative impact of anaemia concur-rent with established HIV infection upon morbidity and mortality has been well docu-mented but the prognostic potential and long-term effects of anaemia & other hematological changes during acute HIV-1 infection remain unknown.The aim of this study was to deter-mine if HIV status influences changes in iron levels and anaemic measurements and to re-late these to progression of disease as judged by CD4 T cell lymphocyte counts