Association between HIV-2 infection and genital ulcer diseases among male sexually transmitted disease patients in The Gambia.

Abstract

To investigate whether genital ulcer diseases are cofactors which enhance the transmission of HIV-2 in West Africa. A cross-sectional study of 435 men presenting with a sexually transmitted disease (STD). The outpatient clinic of the Medical Research Council Laboratories, a primary care facility in Fajara, a suburb of Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia (West Africa). Six hundred and twenty-four men presenting with a genital complaint, of whom 443 had an STD. Eight of the men with an STD were excluded from further analysis because they were HIV-1-infected (five patients) or had indeterminate Western blot patterns (three patients). The remaining 21 HIV-2-infected and 414 seronegative men constituted our study-group. Participants were questioned about previous STD and behavioural and demographic characteristics. A physical examination was performed and serum collected for measurement of antibodies against Haemophilus ducreyi and Treponema pallidum. HIV-2-infected men were more likely than HIV-seronegative participants to have previously had a genital ulcer [odds ratio (OR), 3.00; 95% confidence interval (Cl), 1.18-7.60] and to have antibodies against T. pallidum (OR, 5.95; 95% Cl, 2.10-16.91), or H. ducreyi (OR, 4.59; 95% Cl, 1.71-12.33). Circumcised patients with residual foreskin were more likely to be HIV-2 infected than patients with complete circumcision. HIV-2-seropositive patients were six times more likely to have generalized lymphadenopathy than their seronegative counterparts. Our data suggest that genital ulcerative diseases, such as syphilis and chancroid, are probably cofactors that increase the transmission of HIV-2 in West Africa, and that HIV-2 infection frequently results in generalized lymphadenopathy.