. [13]
In a similar study from Tanzania After initiation of yogurt enriched probiotic consumption, an additional increase of 0.28 cells/μL/day (95% CI; 0.10-0.46, P=0.003) was observed. After adjustment for duration of antiretroviral drug use, the additional increase explained by yogurt consumption remained at 0.17 cells/μL/day (95% CI; 0.01-0.34, P=0.04) which was also significant.[14]
compared to previous studies, the patients we studied suffer from immunologic failure and given the low CD4 count of the patients in our study, most are classified as stages 3 and 4 of AIDS. This shows the importance of CD4 count, as their low levels can cause numerous clinical adverse events and increasing CD4 count can significantly improve patients’ quality of life.
conclusion: the use of probiotics to prevent and attenuate various gastrointestinal manifestations and improve immunity of intestinal-associated lymphoid tissue in HIV infection by modulating epithelial barrier functions and microbiota composition can result in CD4+ count rise in hiv patients with immunologic failure
Daily administration of probiotics at appropriate doses-two 10⁹CFU capsules in our study-in HIV patients who had immunologic failure despite virologic response lead to a transient increase in CD4+ counts.