HIV heterosexual transmission in hemophilia couples: lack of relation to T4 number, clinical diagnosis, or duration of HIV exposure.

Six (13%) of 45 female partners of 45 HIV antibody positive [Ab(+)] hemophiliacs in Western Pennsylvania have become HIV Ab(+), a mean of 10.4 months from the time of first exposure. By comparison, the mean time from first exposure to the last/recent exposure in the HIV Ab(-) female partners was 54.2 months. All six hemophiliacs who transmitted HIV to their female partners were asymptomatic, with mean T4 of 403 +/- 51/mm3 at the time of estimated seroconversion in the female; currently, their mean T4 is 203 +/- 75/mm3, which is not different from that in hemophiliac men whose partner remains HIV Ab(-) (170 +/- 22/mm3). Thus, in this population, heterosexual transmission occurs early and is unrelated to clinical or immunologic status in the hemophiliac. The risk of HIV transmission in persistently HIV Ab(-) female partners is unknown but appears low.