Zinc deficiency facilitates disease progression in early HIV infected adults in Botswana (804.26)

Objective: Zinc deficiency facilitates HIV disease progression in late stages of the disease. We examined the association between plasma zinc levels with CD4 cell count and HIV viral load in asymptomatic, ART naïve HIV+ adults in Botswana. Methods: A secondary analysis from the Nutrient Therapy in Botswana for zinc deficiency (plasma zinc<0.75mg/L) with CD4+ cell count, and log 10 HIV viral load, used Mixed Model Linear Regressions from Baseline to 6‐months. Results: Among the 133 participants, mean age was 33.84, 52.21% were male and CD4 cell count was 463.69±162.05 cells/µL . The prevalence of zinc deficiency was 75.94%. Those with zinc deficiency had higher baseline viral load (4.19 vs. 3.64 log 10 copies/mL). Over 6 months, participants with zinc deficiency had a lower CD4+ cell count [β=46.138, p=0.0503], and higher HIV viral load [β=‐0.2299, p=0.0518] controlling for age and gender. Conclusion: Zinc deficiency appears to have a detrimental effect on disease progression in HIV‐infected asymptomatic, ART naive adults. Further studies on the effect of normalizing zinc status and the mechanism through which adequate zinc contributes to slower disease progression are needed. Grant Funding Source : NIDA