Advanced HIV Hinders Success for HPV Surgery

HIV-positive women--particularly those with severe immune system damage--who undergo surgery for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, a presence of tumors, have high recurrence rates of lesions, French scientists reported in the August 1 edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Researchers from Paris say their study of 121 HIV-positive women treated for the tumors indicates that a CD4 count below 200 boosts the risk of tumor persistence or recurrence by nine times, mostly due to the weakened immune system's inability to control human papillomavirus infection, a common sexually transmitted disease linked with virtually all cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer, which is an AIDS-defining condition in HIV-positive women. A study reported in the February 2005 edition of HIV Plus suggests that HIV-positive men infected with HPV and who have a low nadir CD4-cell count are similarly at a higher risk of anal intraepithelial neoplasia, a precursor to anal cancer.