Coinfection with Helminths and HIV-1 in East Asia

As geographic distributions of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) and helminth infections largely overlap in many regions of the world, including the East Asian region, HIV-1/helminth coinfection is a common finding. Both HIV-1 and helminth infections mutually interact on several levels, especially on the level of immunomodulation, which has potential effects on the risk of acquisition and the clinical course of the involved pathogens. In this chapter, we present the epidemiology of HIV-1/helminth coinfection in East Asia and summarize the current knowledge on mutual interaction and its effect on epidemiology, clinical course, and treatment of the respective pathogen.