I certainly do not. Reviewing some of the latest published studies on vitamin D one caught my attention appeared in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in October 2009. The study was conducted in Tanzania, a country particularly affected by the HIV epidemic, with 884 infected pregnant women.

And the results were quite significant:

- 61% higher mortality during follow-up in children born to mothers with low vitamin D.

- 50% more cases of HIV measured in the sixth week of birth in children born to mothers with low vitamin D.

- 49% fetal mortality or HIV infection detected at birth in mothers with low vitamin D.

The literature of vitamin D in relation to HIV has become very small. It is hoped that in future further this issue as has happened in recent years with many other problems and diseases in connection with this vitamin. Fortunately, these studies seem to start to arrive, to point to the direction probably assumed. A study published in January 2010 in the Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases reported figures of vitamin D in 115 HIV-positive men aged 19 to 63 years: 36% had insufficient securities, 20% poor and 4% severely deficient. “This study concluded that the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency is high in HIV-infected patients.

- “Perinatal outcomes, including mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and child mortality and their association with maternal vitamin D status in Tanzania”, Journal of Infectious Diseases, October 2009

- “Deficiency of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in male HIV-positive patients: A descriptive cross-sectional study”, Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, January 2010

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