Panorama of digestives violations related to HIV in CHU Campus in Lome (Togo)

Abstract

To describe the different gastrointestinal manifestations encountered in adult patients with HIV infection in a gastroenterology department in Togo. This one-year (2011) prospective, descriptive study included all adult HIV-positive patients admitted to our department. Patients not known to be HIV-positive before admission were tested after informed consent. 82 (8.4% of departmental admissions) HIV-positive patients participated in the study. Their mean age was 38.78 years ± 9 years, and they were mainly women (sex-ratio = 0.82). The reasons for consultation were mainly asthenia (39%), weight loss (35.4%), and vomiting (34.1%). Their histories included tuberculosis (4%), jaundice (4%), and herpes zoster (2%). Nearly all (91%) had CD4 counts below 350 cells/L, and most (80%) were treated with antiretroviral agents (ARV) before admission. Most patients were also chronic alcoholics (72%) and took traditional herbal treatments (55%). General symptoms included deterioration of the general condition (77%) and conjunctival pallor (48%). Physical signs included ascites (32%) and hepatomegaly (29%). All patients were positive for HIV-1; 30% were co-infected with HBV and 1.2% with HCV. The main diagnoses were hepatobiliary diseases (46%), including cirrhosis (24.4%), acute toxic hepatitis (12%), and hepatocellular carcinoma (6.1%). Of the latter, one also had lung metastases. Esophageal diseases included candidal esophagitis (24%), and the gastric diseases, two gastric ulcers (2%) and one case of gastric cancer. The primary disease of the colon and small bowel was acute gastroenteritis (38%). Peritoneal conditions were all tuberculosis (7%), and pancreatic involvement was acute pancreatitis (2%).