HIV Protease Inhibitors Link To CMV

A study conducted by the University of California at San Franciscohas found that AIDS patients who are given protease inhibitors to treat the disease may develop cytomegalovirus retinitis. Five patients with

CD4 cell counts lower than 100 cells/mm3 were administered PIs. Although their cell count increased to around 200 cells/cm3, this did not protect them from CMV, and in fact PIs may even trigger it, say the researchers. It was previously thought that only patients with CD4 cell counts below 50 were susceptible to the disease.