Toombs et al provide an important contribution to the emerging literature which seeks to establish if those people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic.1 Evidence from their case series have been consistent with the hypothesis that PLWH do not experience disproportionately greater hospital admission, morbidity, or mortality.

First, the low prevalence (0.34%) of human immunodeficiemcy virus (HIV) in their studied population of 500 000 people is similar to the proportion (0.43%) of COVID‐19 patients with HIV admitted to their hospital. This is consistent with other studies that were generalized to the broader population, which found no increased risk of coinfected individuals who were hospitalized.2-7

Second, one patient who expired was a sixty‐two year old male, who had significant co‐morbidities, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Besides male sex and older age, it has been suggested that it is the presence of such co‐morbidities and not HIV infection itself that are the harbingers of poor prognosis.8, 9 Solid organ transplantation is unlikely to have contributed to the demise of this patient because several HIV‐positive transplant recipients have been cured of COVID‐19.10-12

Third, one of the patients reported by Toombs and colleagues had a high viral load of greater than one million copies per mL and a low CD4 count of 50 cells per µL. Despite this adverse immunologic profile, this patient recovered from COVID‐19 and was discharged from the hospital. The above observation is consistent with the clinical cure of at least four patients with COVID‐19, who were newly diagnosed with HIV.13-16

These early observations regarding aspects of morbidity and mortality in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and PLWH are encouraging. However, more research is needed to clarify clinical and therapeutic aspects including drug‐drug interactions (pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenomic data as well as genetic polymorphism). Populations of special interest like pregnant women deserve special attention.

Toombs等人为新兴文献提供了重要贡献，这些文献试图确定那些患有人类免疫缺陷病毒（PLWH）的人是否受到2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的不成比例的影响。1从他们的病例系列中得到的证据与以下假设相一致：PLWH的住院率，发病率或死亡率并未成比例地增加。

First, the low prevalence (0.34%) of human immunodeficiemcy virus (HIV) in their studied population of 500 000 people is similar to the proportion (0.43%) of COVID‐19 patients with HIV admitted to their hospital. This is consistent with other studies that were generalized to the broader population, which found no increased risk of coinfected individuals who were hospitalized.2-7

Second, one patient who expired was a sixty‐two year old male, who had significant co‐morbidities, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Besides male sex and older age, it has been suggested that it is the presence of such co‐morbidities and not HIV infection itself that are the harbingers of poor prognosis.8, 9 Solid organ transplantation is unlikely to have contributed to the demise of this patient because several HIV‐positive transplant recipients have been cured of COVID‐19.10-12

第三，Toombs及其同事报道的一名患者病毒载量高，每毫升大于一百万份，CD4计数低，每微升50个细胞。尽管存在这种不利的免疫学特征，该患者仍从COVID-19中康复，并已出院。以上观察结果与至少四名新诊断为HIV的COVID-19患者的临床治愈相符。13-16

这些关于严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2和PLWH发病率和死亡率方面的早期观察令人鼓舞。但是，需要更多的研究来阐明临床和治疗方面，包括药物相互作用（药物代谢动力学和药物基因组学数据以及遗传多态性）。特别需要关注的人群，例如孕妇。