Transfusions and the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

Excerpt

To the Editor: The development of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in individuals who show serologic evidence of human immunodeficiency virus exposure (HIV) varies among risk groups (1). The prevalence of clinical AIDS in HIV-positive hemophiliacs is lower than that found in HIV-positive nonhemophiliac patients. Hemophiliacs positive for HIV develop significant viremia as a precursor to progressing to clinical AIDS (2). It is not obvious how the genes that produce hemophilia or others closely linked to them might protect HIV-positive hemophiliacs from AIDS or how the common alleles at these loci could promote a more rapid progression from HIV infection