Abstract
The objective of the present research was to determine the prevalence of oral manifestations in an HIV infected population from south India and evaluate their association with HIV viral load and CD4/CD8 ratio. Intraoral examination of 103 patients, whose CD4/CD8 ratio was available, were conducted. HIV viral loads were available for thirty patients only. The prevalence of oral manifestations was 80.6% (83/103). The most common oromucosal lesion was erythematous candidiasis (EC) (38.8%) followed by melanotic hyperpigmentation (35.9%). Patients having any oral manifestation had a mean CD4/CD8 ratio of 0.24. EC had positive predictive value of 85.0% for CD4/CD8 ratio <0.30. The prevalence of oral manifestations in patients taking ART was lesser (78.6%) as compared to patients not taking ART (82%). Patients having any oral manifestation had a higher HIV viral load as compared to patients not having any oral manifestations (P < 0.05). Pseudomembranous candidiasis (PC) was significantly associated with higher HIV viral loads (>20,000 copies/mL) (P < 0.05). Patients having EC had 4 times greater chance of having CD4/CD8 ratio <0.30. PC can be considered as a marker of immune suppression (HIV viral load >20,000 copies/mL).
Highlights
1.8 million people died in 2009 due to AIDS-related causes, and an estimated 2.6 million people were newly infected with HIV in world [1]
Since the beginning of AIDS epidemic, developing countries have experienced difficulties in implementing appropriate, inexpensive, and efficient HIV laboratory diagnostic techniques to aid in the epidemiological assessment and control of HIV infection
Studies have been conducted in Asia for association of oral manifestations with absolute CD4 lymphocyte counts [14,15,16]
Summary
1.8 million people died in 2009 due to AIDS-related causes, and an estimated 2.6 million people were newly infected with HIV in world [1]. The ratio of CD4 cell to CD8 cells is a significant measure which is of greater magnitude as compared to absolute CD4 cell count of disease progression in HIV-infected subjects [3]. Studies from western countries have shown association of oral manifestations with higher HIV viral load [9,10,11,12]. Till date no Asian study has attempted to assess the relationship between oral manifestations with CD4/CD8 ratio and HIV viral load. A group of HIV patients from south Indian population were analyzed to identify possible association of oral manifestations with CD4/CD8 count ratio. International Journal of Dentistry and HIV viral load and to evaluate the diagnostic utility of correlating main oral manifestations for low CD4/CD8 ratios (
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
