Abstract

Highly active antiretroviral viral therapy (HAART), a combination of three antiretrovirals from at least two drug classes for optimization of hindrance to HIV replication has greatly increased life expectance. There however, exist numerous of these combinations and thus the questions of which is the best HAART combination with respect to the individual’s haematological status. To investigate this, blood samples were collected from 231 retropositive subjects on six different HAART combinations at least six months after HAART commencement, assayed for CD4 and some haematological parameters using cyflow and sysmex(KX-21) autoanalysier. Baseline data was accessed from the LAMIS data base. The difference between baseline and values after HAART was taken and statistically compared. HAART evaluated includes, Combivir(NVP), Combivir(EFV), Truvada(NVP), Truvada(EFV), Lanten(NVP) and Lanten(EFV). The difference in the parameters assayed are: CD4(cellmm-3): 154, 205, 172, 206, 262, and 230(P=0.478). Haemoglobin(gdl-1): -0.78, -0.73, 2.35, 1.48, 1.11 and 1.27(P=0.010). PCV(%): -2.34, -2.19, 7.65, 7.02, 3.36 and 3.12(P=0.0001). WBC(103μl-1): - 1.19, -1.02, -0.37, 0.06, 1.14 and -0.63(P=0.001). Neutrophil(%): -1.51, -1.83, 3.87, 2.07, 2.71, 2.71 and 1.97(P=0.868). Lymphocyte(%): -4.26, -2.87, -1.45, -0.19, 2.36 and 3.40(P=0.790). Eosinophil(%): -0.41, 0.14, -2.65, 0.14, -0.46 and 0.12(P=0.094). Platelet(103μl-1): -49, -39, -53, -53, -47 and -35(P=0.931). The Zidovudine based combinations showed anaemic tendencies; Nevirapen based combinations showed Eosinopenic tendencies. All HAART used induced good immunologic responses along with thrombocytopenic tendencies. The data generated was however insufficient to discriminate one combination as being better than the other, rather it was observed that the haematological profile of clients must be well considered when selecting HAART