THE CLINICAL COURSE OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS INFECTION IN GENETICALLY IDENTICAL CHILDREN

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in children is associated with diverse clinical manifestations and highly variable rates of pro gression. There is little information concerning the clinical course o f HIV infection in genetically identical children. We review the cases of identical triplets who were infected with HIV at 1 day of age via a blood transfusion from a common unit of contaminated blood. The subs equent clinical manifestations of HIV infection in the triplets were r emarkably uniform. Moreover, the patients' CD4 cell counts declined at similar rates. These patients enhance our understanding of the role o f viral and host factors in determining the clinical progression of HI V infection.