Abstract
BackgroundChildren with HIV infection may develop a wide variety of infectious and inflammatory diseases of the skin. These disorders are often more severe and more difficult to treat than in the immunocompetent child. In some cases, disorders of the skin or mucous membranes may provide an early clue to the presence of pediatric HIV infection.MethodsIt is a descriptive cross-sectional study which was conducted at the pediatric infectious disease unit, department of pediatrics and child health, Tikur Anbesa specialized Hospital. Clinical information was collected using a questionnaire. The data was analyzed using SSPS 16.0 version. Chi-squared was utilized where appropriate and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsTwo hundred seventy HIV infected children were recruited in this study. Out of these females were 51.5% and males were 48.5%. Most of the children 196/270 (72.6%) were suffering from one or more mucocutanous disorders. The most prevalent mucocutanous disorders were infectious dermatosis. Overall, mucocutaneous disorders were more prevalent in advanced stages of HIV disease P < 0.001. Two or more mucocutanous disorders were found in moderate and sever immunosuppression. Seventy three percent of the HIV-infected children with mucocutaneous disorders were already on HAART.ConclusionsThe prevalence of mucocutanous disorders is high in HIV infected children. Advanced immunosuppression is highly associated with a wide spectrum of mucocutanous disorders.
Highlights
Children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection may develop a wide variety of infectious and inflammatory diseases of the skin
Children with HIV infection are more prone to adverse cutaneous drug reactions, both to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and to other drugs that are given concomitantly for co-morbid illnesses
All HIV infected children aged up to 14 years, who full filled the inclusion criteria and whose parents/guardians gave informed consent, were enrolled consecutively until the required sample size was obtained consecutively
Summary
Children with HIV infection may develop a wide variety of infectious and inflammatory diseases of the skin. These disorders are often more severe and more difficult to treat than in the immunocompetent child. There were a total of 33.2 million people living with HIV, in 2007, of which 2.5 million (7.5%) were children under the age of 15 years [1]. 90% of patients will develop one or more skin diseases during the course of their illness and 37% of patients present with skin lesions as a marker of HIV infection [4]. Children with HIV infection are more prone to adverse cutaneous drug reactions, both to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and to other drugs that are given concomitantly for co-morbid illnesses. An early recognition of such features is important for an early diagnosis and to assess the prognosis of HIV infection
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