HIV Research Project in Collaboration with JKBB

• A total of one hundred and fifty patients were examined, out of which eighty (52%) were followed for two years.
• Major mode of transmission (98%) remains heterosexual. Only one patient reported with certainty about blood transfusion.
• Majority of the patients belong to the younger group (15–30 yrs.).
• Patients were from various strata of life like PSW to housewives.
• 73% showed improvement in general sense of well being, weight gain and other general symptoms.
• 64% showed improvement on major Ayurvedic criteria clinically and on tests/scoring.
• CD4+ T cell count improved from 10% to 34% in 75% of patients.
• Patients who could maintain better nutritional status along with ayurvedic medicines showed a better improvement on all scales.
• Alcohol consumption was the most important acquired habit observed in 42% of patients.
• Daily consumption was high. Those who could stop alcohol exhibited clinical improvement. Those who could not refrain progressed inexorably along the HIV/AIDS course.
• Overall CD4+ T cell count was very low < 500 in the majority of cases.

Tuberculosis and herpes simplex were the commonly observed opportunistic infections.