Gut Microbes Could Play Role in HIV Infection
msn.comHIV? A small, new study suggests the answer may be yes. The intriguing possibility stems from a detailed analysis of the gut bacteria ("microbiomes") of 55 men, all of whom indicated they have sex with other men.
About half of the men went on to become infected with HIV; the other half did not. And investigators found notable pre-infection differences in the amount of certain gut bacteria found in the two groups. “This might suggest that there is a connection between these gut bacteria and HIV risk,” said study author Dr.
Jennifer Fulcher. She is an assistant professor and staff physician in the department of medicine’s division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Fulcher explained that prior research had already indicated “that people with HIV can have different gut bacteria than those without. ” But do those changes occur before or after HIV infection?
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