TITLE:
Management of HIV in Children Using a Bovine Colostrum-Based Food Product— An Observational Field Study
AUTHORS:
Patrick Olwedo Odong, Pamela Judith Angwech, James Obol, Claes-Henrik Florén
KEYWORDS:
CD4+, Bovine Colostrum, Colostrum-Based Food Supplement, HIV Infected Children
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of AIDS,
Vol.5 No.2,
June
3,
2015
ABSTRACT: Aim: Malnutrition increases the severity
and mortality of HIV infection. Therefore, this field study was started and
aimed to provide a major cohort of HIV-infected children with the colostrum-based food product ColoPlus (ColoPlus AB, Malmö, Sweden) and to investigate the
effects of ColoPlus on the nutritional status and immunological capacity of
children including tolerability and safety of the product. Methods: In this
major field program comprising 850 malnourished HIV positive children, 50 grams
of ColoPlus was administrated for 4 weeks as the first meal in selected health
facilities in Northern Uganda. Forty-eight of these children (8 months - 14
years of age) were recruited into a descriptive prospective study and were
followed for 12 weeks. At the start (week 0) and at weeks 4, 8 and 12, CD4+
cell counts, serum albumin and hemoglobin were analyzed. The remaining 802
patients were observed to register safety and tolerability of ColoPlus.
Results: There was a general improvement of wellbeing of the children with
increased body weight and decreased fatigue. In the descriptive study of the 48
children, there was a significant rise of the CD4+ values at week 4 (+15.4% ±
2.8%, p = 0.0001) compared to week 0, and at week 8 (+39.1% ± 3.9%, p