TABLE 1.

Intervention trials with selenium given alone or in combination with other micronutrients as discussed in the text¹

Pathogen, tested dose, and selenium compound	Additional micronutrients	Health effects (supplementation group vs. placebo group)	Reference
IAV vaccination
100 μg Se/d as selenium sulfide	Zinc	Higher antibody titers after IAV vaccination; lower numbers of respiratory tract infections	(43)
Poliovirus vaccination
50 or 100 μg Se/d as sodium selenite	None	Better viral clearance after poliovirus vaccination because of improved T cell immunity	(64)
Hepatitis C virus infection
200 μg Se/d as selenomethionine	Vitamin C, vitamin E	No beneficial effects on viral load or liver damage	(63)
HIV infection
200 μg Se/d as Se-yeast	None	Suppressed progression in viral load and increase in CD4+ T cells if serum selenium increased >26 μg/L	(54)
200 μg Se/d as selenomethionine	None	No effect on maternal viral load, T cell count, or mortality but less diarrhea morbidity; improved child survival	(55, 56)
400 μg Se/d (not specified)	Multivitamin and multimineral mix	No effect on viral load and T cell count but higher survival rate	(57)
200 μg Se/d (not specified)	Vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E	Slower disease progression (delayed decline in CD4+ T cells, lower morbidity)	(58)
HIV/Mycobacterium tuberculosis coinfection
100 μg Se/d (not specified)	Multivitamin mix	Marginal decrease in mortality, lower risk of TB recurrence after therapy	(75)
200 μg Se/d as selenomethionine	Multivitamin mix, copper, zinc	Augmented increase in weight gain after TB therapy, marginal decrease in mortality	(77)
200 μg Se/d as sodium selenite	Multivitamin mix, copper, zinc	Augmented increase in weight gain after TB therapy, enhanced hand-grip strength	(79)
200 μg Se/d (not specified)	Multivitamin and multimineral mix	Enhanced hand-grip strength	(80)
200 μg Se/d as sodium selenite	Multivitamin mix, copper, zinc	Improved bioavailability of the TB drug rifampicin	(81)

¹IAV, influenza A virus; Se, selenium; TB, tuberculosis.