JG would have reminded this person that this is an HIV forum. Regardless, seems like maybe this guy should get checked for leukemia. Another virus that has been shown to be strongly cytopathic for CD4 cells is HHV-6A. In some of the earlier research papers on this virus, one might be able to infer that HHV-6A and HHV-8 (or KSHV, responsible for Kaposi's Sarcoma) may actually be the same virus. Some researchers are suggesting that this virus may be responsible for the majority of cell and tissue damage in AIDS patients, and that this virus is also responsible for a large percentage of persons suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Others have gone so far as to suggest that the difference between long-term non-progressors and persons who progress to AIDS and death, is the abscence of HHV-6A in LTNPs. Other papers show, in-vitro, induced upregulation of HIV replication by antigens of HHV-6A, and increased cellular infectivity of HHV-6A in the presence of HIV. (See in particular studies performed by Knox and Carrigan in Wisconsin, where tissue biopsies of several dead AIDS patient revealed HHV-6A in 100% of tissues sampled, and associated with significant structural damage to tissues such as thymus and spleen.) From the completed research, it is clear HHV-6A is much more cytopathic for CD4 than HIV. There are now PCR analyses available for HHV-6A.

Thanks for the info.

-JC