Malaria infections could be fuelling the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, scientists have warned. They predict that tens of thousands of additional cases of HIV in Kenya have been caused in people already suffering from the effects of the malaria parasite.
Malaria can increase the amount of HIV in an infected person's blood tenfold, making the virus easier to transmit to a sex partner. In turn, HIV weakens the body's immune system, making those infected with it more susceptible to diseases such as malaria.
An estimated 40 million people are infected with HIV in Africa, resulting in more than 3 million deaths every year. More than 500 million cases of malaria also occur every year, a million of which cause deaths. There is considerable geographical overlap between the two diseases and previous research has pointed to a link between the spread of the two infections.
"The weakening of the immune system by HIV infection has fuelled a rise in adult malaria-infection rates and may have facilitated the expansion of malaria in Africa," said James Kublin, an HIV researcher at the University of Washington who led the research, published today in Science.