Although no HIV controllers exhibited AIDS-related conditions and had CD4+ T cell counts ≥500 cells/μL during follow-up, EC (1202 cells/μL) displayed a significantly higher median CD4+ T cell counts than VC (735 cells/μL) at sampling time, supporting the relevance of persistent low-level viremia on the long-term CD4+ T cell decline [20, 41]. The gene discussed is CD4; the disease is AIDS.