Assessing eosinophil count as a marker of immune activation among human immunodeficiency virus-infected persons in sub-Saharan Africa

In 611 human immunodeficiency virus-infected persons who had not yet begun to receive antiretroviral therapy, we evaluated the linear association between absolute eosinophil count (as a surrogate for immune response to helminthic infection) and CD4+ T cell count, and between absolute eosinophil count and log virus load. Overall, no significant correlations were observed between eosinophil count and CD4+ T cell count, or between eosinophil count and log virus load.