Helminth-HIV co-infection and malnutrition impact on immunity in Africa: dearth of empirical evidence

Abstract

Helminthiasis is frequently co-endemic with HIV/AIDS in developing countries and the co-infection induces many consequences of health that can be aggravated by the nutritional status. The relationship between malnutrition and infection is complex, especially in immune deficiency. Given this intricate relationship between malnutrition, HIV epidemic and helminth infection in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a need to understand the dynamics, impact to general health and the burden in the region. This paper provide in a nutshell a systematic review and a quantitative summary of the work focusing on this relationship. A search was conducted to identify studies on malnutrition and HIV-helminth co-infection impact on immunity in Africa, using the search terms “malnutrition” and “HIV” and “HIV-helminth co-infection” and “Africa” or “malnutrition” and “HIV” or “HIV-helminth” limited to Africa. The search was also limited to human studies from the databases available on PubMed, and Google scholar. The database was searched with language, region and year restrictions (only articles in English and French and all publications from 1999 to 2013). The results showed that no study has been conducted on the intersections between malnutrition and HIV/helminth co-infection. So no article met criteria for potential inclusion and these focused on nutrition and HIV-helminth co-infection impact on immunity in Africa. There is no study conducted in Africa that investigated the immune aspect and the relationship between nutrition and HIV-helminth co-infection. The results of this review suggest insufficient data to determine whether malnutrition and HIV-helminth co-infection impact on immunity. There is strong recommendation to conduct such kind of studies in Africa where malnutrition and HIV-helminth co-infection are common.