Assessments of viral load and haematological parameters in HIV patients on HAART in Ilorin, Kwara state

Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection represents the most common cause of acquired immune deficiency and leads to clinical disease referred to as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) are the gold standard for the management of HIV disease. Viral load indicates that treatment is effective. A high viral load in a person on treatment indicates either that the medication is not being taken properly or that the virus is becoming resistant to the medication. This is a comparative study aimed at assessing the Viral load count and haematological parameters. 120 HIV positive individual and 40 HIV negative subjects were recruited for this study,while haematological parameters were carried out using Sysmex KX-21 analyser. Results was analyzed using SPSS version 20. .Our result shows the following mean absolute counts of haematological parameters; lymphocyte count of HIV positive persons to be 1.42±1.82, Neutrophil 1.64±2.80, Monocyte 0.07±0.08, Basophil 0.05±0.06 Eosinophil 1.71±3.42 while the mean value of TWBC 5.130±1.43, RBC 3.97±0.48, HB 11.41±1.65, MCV 87.054±15.59 and MCHC MCHCf/l, compared to 0.78±0.08, 1.10±0.32, 0.06±0.02, 0.01±0.01 and 1.14±3.42 respectively among the HIV negative individual. In conclusion, we found that the use of antiretroviral drugs could positively or negatively affect haematological parameters, depending on the choice of combination used.