Author(s)

Prince Eliot Galieni Sounga Bandzouzi^1,2*, Ghislain Armel Mpandzou^1,3, Josué Euberma Diatewa^1,3, Patience Moudeko M’Foutou², Dina Happia Motoula-Latou^1,3, Charles Godefroy Koubemba², Paul Macaire Ossou-Nguiet^1,3, Donatien Moukassa¹

¹Faculty of Health Sciences, Marien N’GOUABI University, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
²Department of Neurology, Loandjili General Hospital, Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo.
³Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Brazzaville, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

Introduction: The role of immunosuppression of TCD4⁺ lymphocytes in the onset of stroke in people living with HIV has been reported in numerous studies examining the co-morbidity of stroke and HIV. Objective: To determine the correlation between the viral load and the type of stroke. Methodology: This was a 7-month cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in the Neurology Department of Loandjili General Hospital in Pointe-Noire. The study population consisted of patients living with HIV who had a stroke confirmed by brain scan. The sero-immunological investigation consisted of looking for T lymphocyte typing from two kits: a CD4⁺ T lymphocyte typing reagent kit (BD FACS Presto TM) and a GeneXpert kit for viral load (Xpert^®HIV-1 Viral Load). The database was made from the 2010 version of Microsoft Excel. Results: We included 16 patients living with HIV, 56% of whom were women with a sex ration of 0.78. The mean age was 56.92 ± 11.21. The mean number of TCD4⁺ lymphocytes was 413.44 ± 677.95/mm³; minimum: 93/mm³; maximum: 2854/mm³. The mean viral load was 17,996.31 ± 20,982.22/mm³; minimum: 1002/mm³; maximum: 67,229/mm³. No significant difference between the viral load and the occurrence of the stroke (p = 0.13). Conclusion: Our study did not show a causal link between viral load, immunosuppression of TCD4⁺ lymphocytes and the onset of stroke.

Viral Load, HIV, Stroke

Sounga Bandzouzi, P. , Mpandzou, G. , Diatewa, J. , M’Foutou, P. , Motoula-Latou, D. , Koubemba, C. , Ossou-Nguiet, P. and Moukassa, D. (2021) Stroke and HIV: Correlation between Viral Load and Type of Stroke. Neuroscience and Medicine, 12, 163-167. doi: 10.4236/nm.2021.124012.