FIG. 6.

Relationship between inflammatory cytokine levels in the cervical supernatant and genital tract HIV shedding in chronically HIV-infected women. Women with detectable cervical viral load (detection limit of 80 RNA copies/ml) were ranked as shedders, while women with no detectable cervical viral load were ranked as nonshedders. Each dot represents an individual woman's cytokine concentration in cervical supernatant and actual data has been plotted on a log scale. Horizontal bold lines represent mean values for each group. Box-and-whisker plots represent the median (center line), 25th and 75th percentiles. P values of ≤0.05 were considered significant and were calculated by using the Mann-Whitney U-test to compare medians, and the Student t test was used to compare the means of each group as indicated.