Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS

Research Findings from May, 1999 Director's Report

This section lists selected summaries from NIDA funded research projects that investigate youth drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. The summaries provided were selected from recent issues of the Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse. For a more comprehensive listing of NIDA funded projects see the Director's Report.

Plasma Virus Load Evaluation in Relation to Disease Progression in HIV-Infected Children

Savita Pahwa and colleagues at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York, observed that high levels of HIV RNA (measured retrospectively by nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay) in infancy is associated with increased mortality, although no correlation was observed between levels of cellular HIV DNA and plasma HIV RNA. Tetali, S., Bakshi, S., Than, S., Pahwa, S., Abrams, E., Romano, J., and Pahwa, S. G. Plasma Virus Load Evaluation in Relation to Disease Progression in HIV-Infected Children. AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses, 14(7), pp. 571-577, 1998.