Previously, it was not known if zinc would speed up HIV disease progression in children by increasing their viral load. Zinc supplementation is known to decrease the frequency of diarrhea and pneumonia in uninfected children.
The researchers completed a randomized, double-bind, placebo-controlled trial of zinc supplementation at an urban hospital in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The 96 children in the study were cared for on a monthly outpatient basis by a team of medical doctors and nurses.
At each follow-up visit, parents were asked about illnesses since the last visit. In addition, HIV-1 RNA in plasma and CD4+ T lymphocyte cell counts were measured one month before the study, at the first study visit and three, six and nine months after the start of supplementation.
The study authors found no increase in plasma HIV-1 viral load measurements in the children receiving zinc, meaning that zinc supplementation is safe for HIV-infected children. The CD4+ T lymphocytes and hemoglobin concentrations also were similar between the two study groups. Importantly, HIV-infected children who received zinc supplementation were less likely to get watery diarrhea.
“We set out to look at the safety and impact of zinc supplements in children with HIV. Not only did we learn that zinc is safe for these children, but we also realized that this may be a low-cost intervention to reduce morbidity in HIV-infected children who don’t have access to antiretroviral therapy or are not eligible for treatment,” said Dr William Moss, senior author of the study and an assistant professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s department of epidemiology.