Spectrum of opportunistic infections in relation to CD4 count in HIV-2 patients

 

 

Abstract              Background: Opportunistic infections (OIs) are the most common complication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. OIs cause significant morbidity and mortality in people with HIV infection. There is very little published data available on opportunistic infections in HIV-2 in India. Aim: To study the opportunistic infections with respect to CD-4 count in HIV-2 patients. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study included HIV-2 patients who visited ART centre in tertiary care hospital through SACEP and / or HIV-2 patients admitted in the medical wards over a period of 19 months and who were documented HIV-2 reactive with western blot confirmation. Every 6 monthly CD4 counts of all patients were noted and occurrence of opportunistic infections with respect to CD4 count was evaluated. Results: The OI spectrum observed in our study was Tuberculosis (28.72%) being most common followed by Candidiasis (9.34%), Diarrhoea (7.96%), Herpes (6.23%), Lymphoma (1.73%), CMV retinitis (1.38%), PCP (1.38%), CNS Toxoplasmosis (1.04%), PML (0.69%) and Cryptococcal meningitis (0.69%). Tuberculosis, oral candidiasis, diarrhoea and herpes infections manifests at comparatively higher CD4 count as compared to cryptococcal meningitis, CMV retinitis and PCP. Conclusion: HIV-2 infection has long asymptomatic period, is less virulent but causes immunosuppression, as well as AIDS characterized by the opportunistic infections at lower CD4 counts.

Key words: HIV-2 infection, CD4 count, opportunistic infections, tuberculosis, candidiasis