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A new study from researchers at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues has examined the impact of
aflatoxins on the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Aflatoxins are poisons produced by
aspergillus fungi that can be found on damp grains, nuts, and beans, usually in
hot humid climates. Federal law limits the allowable amount of these highly
dangerous toxins in food to 20 parts per billion. High doses of aflatoxins can
be deadly; exposure even to low doses could cause liver cancer. Aflatoxins also
have been found to be immunosuppressive, possibly causing increased
immunosuppression in HIV-positive individuals.
Because African countries rely
heavily on several crops that develop aspergillus, researchers investigated the
association between aflatoxins and HIV. They measured the blood levels of
aflatoxins and the disease in 314 HIV-positive Ghanaians who had never been on
antiretroviral therapy. Results showed that higher aflotoxin levels in
participants’ blood often coincided with higher HIV blood levels, even for individuals
with high levels of CD4 blood cells. These participants with high CD4 blood
cells had not been infected long and were not eligible to begin antiretroviral
therapy, under World Health Organization guidelines. Researchers believed that
aflatoxins either produced proteins that contributed to HIV reproduction or
reduced the number of white blood cells in some way, making the virus’s attack
on the immune system more powerful.
The full report, “Association
Between High Aflatoxin B1 Levels and High Viral Load in HIV-Positive People,”
was published online in the World Mycotoxin Journal (2013; doi
10.3920/WMJ2013.1585).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
To learn more about The Friends of
AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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