Acta Biomedica Scientia

IDIOPATHIC CD4+ T LYMPHOCYTOPAENIA AT A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA: IS IT REAL

Godwin T. Jombo, Jeremiah Oloche, James O. Tsor, Joseph Mamfe, Alfred Orinya

jombogodwin@gmail.com

CD4+ T Lymphocytes, Idiopathic, Lymphocytopenia

The use of CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts as a sole marker to assess the rate of progression of HIV/AIDS disease in many parts of Africa continues to receive wide acceptance among health professionals. This belief is against the background that HIV/AIDS is the only disease commonly associated with CD4+ T Lymphocyte depletion. This study was set up to ascertain the patterns of CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts among HIV/AIDS patients as well as counts among those who were HIVseronegative presenting with other forms of ailments. A total of 145 HIV-seronegative subjects were studied who presented at the hospital with either no complaint or with different clinical presentations. Venous blood was collected from superficial veins, transported to the laboratory and screened for HIV using Determine and CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts carried out using cyflow, Artec Germany. Among the male 67 subjects 2 (1.4%) and 1 (0.7%) had CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts ≤ 200 cells/µL and 201-300 cells/µL respectively while 64 (44.1) had CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts of 300 cells /µL and above. Also among the 78 female subjects, 2 (1.4%) had CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts 201-299 cells/µL while 76 (52.4%) had counts of 300 cells/µL and above. Among the clinical features associated with low CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts were: Weight loss, Fever, Pulmonary tuberculosis, Dry cough, and Generalised peripheral lymphadenopathy (1, 25.0% each). Idiopathic CD4+ T Lymphocytopaenia (ICTL) may not be as rare in our environment as hitherto believed to be and hence could mask correct interpretation and proper staging of HIV/AIDS in a newly diagnosed HIV positive patient. Interpretation of CD4+ T Lymphocyte counts in newly diagnosed HIV patient should be carried out with the understanding that ICTL may be rare but still not uncommon