Histopathological study of cutaneous manifestations in HIV and AIDS patients.

OBJECTIVES: Most human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients develop various skin diseases. These skin manifestations not only act as markers but also reflect the patient's underlying immune status. Investigating CD4 counts is costly and not always possible. Thus, the potential value to be gained by using skin manifestations as predictors of low CD4 counts and disease progression should be explored. The present study attempted to correlate the association of various cutaneous disorders found in HIV patients with CD4 and CD8 counts, the CD4 : CD8 ratio and stage of HIV infection. METHODS: This was a prospective study involving 61 patients who were HIV-positive and demonstrated skin lesions. Punch biopsies of skin were taken for histopathological diagnosis. CD4 and CD8 T cell counts were performed. RESULTS: The study sample included a majority of male patients, most of whom were aged 21-40 years. Pruritic papular dermatitis was the most common skin manifestation, followed by molluscum contagiosum, eosinophilic folliculitis, and Hansen's disease. Most of the lesions were associated with CD4 counts of <220/µl (n = 38). All skin lesions associated with HIV or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) showed a CD4 : CD8 ratio of <0.50. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings demonstrate an inverse relationship between CD4 counts and the occurrence of skin lesions. The majority of lesions were associated with stage 3 or stage 4 infection. Thus, specific cutaneous manifestations can be considered as good clinical indicators for predicting underlying immune status in resource-poor countries.

HIV and tuberculosis: partners in crime.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis is the commonest infection detected in HIV-infected individuals worldwide. AIM: The aim of this study is to describe the clinical, bacteriologic and radiological spectrum of tuberculosis (TB) in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in a tertiary care centre in Mumbai. METHODS: A total of 8640 HIV-infected individuals were screened for tuberculosis routinely from January 1998 to December 2003, using clinical examination, chest X-ray and abdominal ultrasonography, sputum smears for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) and culture on Lowenstein-Jensen medium. RESULTS: TB was detected in 8078 (93.5%) patients of whom 3393 (42%) had pulmonary, 3514 (43.5%) had extrapulmonary TB and 1171 (14.5%) had disseminated disease. One thousand two hundred thirty eight patients (36.5%) showed AFB in sputum, while 1154 (34%) showed growth on culture medium and 4174 had radiographic involvement. In 781 (67%) individuals disseminated disease coexisted with pulmonary involvement. All 8078 coinfected patients were treated with anti-TB therapy (ATT), of whom 6422 patients (79.5%) showed one or more adverse events. Gastritis was the commonest complaint followed by hepatitis and skin rashes. ATT resistance was detected in 482 individuals. CONCLUSION: Tuberculosis is the commonest opportunistic infection (OI) in HIV positive patients in India, showing a higher prevalence of extrapulmonary and disseminated TB and adverse events due to ATT. Early recognition of concurrent OIs and their adequate treatment and prophylaxis is essential.

Infectious complications of human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I infection.

Infection with human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I) has been etiologically associated with two diseases: adult T cell leukemia and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. Increasing evidence suggests that HTLV-I infection may be associated with immunosuppression and, as a consequence, affect the risk and expression of several other infectious diseases, of which the best studied are strongyloidiasis, tuberculosis, and leprosy. In strongyloidiasis, coinfection with HTLV-I appears to result in a higher rate of chronic carriage, an increased parasite load, and a risk of more severe infection. In tuberculosis, a decrease in delayed-type hypersensitivity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been established, but whether this decrease is clinically significant has yet to be determined. In leprosy, an increased risk of disease is suggested, but the published studies are all too poorly controlled to draw definite conclusions.

Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis with deficient CD2 (E receptor) but normal CD3 mononuclear cells.

A case of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis in a Malaysian child who subsequently developed disseminated tuberculosis and toxoplasmosis is described. The phenotype of her peripheral blood mononuclear cells showed discordance for her T cell markers. The presence of a subpopulation of CD2-/CD3+ mononuclear cells leading to an immunodeficiency state is consistent with failure of activation of CD2-mediated alternative pathway resulting in immunodeficiency. Such abnormal CD2-/CD3+ subpopulations have been described in lepromatous leprosy and foetal abortuses.

Opportunistic infections in AIDS in developed and developing countries.

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is fundamentally the same disease in all parts of the world, but the prevalence of microorganisms in an environment governs the patterns of disease arising from reactivated latent infections, invading pathogens and opportunistic infections. AIDS in Africa has certain characteristic presentations. Enteropathic AIDS is most common: Cryptosporidium and Isospora belli are identified in up to 60% of patients, but it is uncertain whether they are the causes of diarrhoea. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is rare. Tuberculosis, both pulmonary and extrapulmonary, is the supreme complicating infection. Herpes zoster is frequently the first clinical presentation, and has a 95% positive predictive value for HIV positivity. Measles may be more frequent in infants born to HIV-infected mothers, and appears to be worse in HIV-infected children. There is accelerated progress of both diseases in patients infected by HIV and Mycobacterium leprae. Salmonellosis is frequent. There is no direct interaction between malaria and HIV, but, by being a potent cause of anaemia, malaria enhances transmission of HIV to children through blood transfusion. HIV-positive subjects are liable to new or reactivated visceral leishmaniasis with dissemination to unusual sites. Cerebral toxoplasmosis is common. There are no apparent interactions between HIV and helminths, although there is one report of hyperinfection with Strongyloides stercoralis. Cryptococcal meningitis has high frequency. Infections with Histoplasma encapsulatum are common in tropical America, but there has been no increase of frequency of H. duboisii in Africa since the advent of AIDS.

Mycobacterial disease, immunosuppression, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

The mycobacteria are an important group of acid-fast pathogens ranging from obligate intracellular parasites such as Mycobacterium leprae to environmental species such as M. gordonae and M. fortuitum. The latter may behave as opportunistic human pathogens if the host defenses have been depleted in some manner. The number and severity of such infections have increased markedly with the emergence of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. These nontuberculous mycobacteria tend to be less virulent for humans than M. tuberculosis, usually giving rise to self-limiting infections involving the cervical and mesenteric lymph nodes of young children. However, the more virulent serovars of M. avium complex can colonize the bronchial and intestinal mucosal surfaces of healthy individuals, becoming virtual members of the commensal gut microflora and thus giving rise to low levels of skin hypersensitivity to tuberculins prepared from M. avium and M. intracellulare. Systemic disease develops when the normal T-cell-mediated defenses become depleted as a result of old age, cancer chemotherapy, or infection with human immunodeficiency virus. As many as 50% of human immunodeficiency virus antibody-positive individuals develop mycobacterial infections at some time during their disease. Most isolates of M. avium complex from AIDS patients fall into serotypes 4 and 8. The presence of these drug-resistant mycobacteria in the lungs of the AIDS patient makes their effective clinical treatment virtually impossible. More effective chemotherapeutic, prophylactic, and immunotherapeutic reagents are urgently needed to treat this rapidly increasing patient population.

[Infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in French Guyana. Dermato-venereologic problems]. / L'infection par le virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH) en Guyane Française. Problèmes dermato-vénéréologiques.

Dermato-venereal manifestations in HIV infection and its severe evolution stage, AIDS, is of particular importance in tropical zones: We may be suspicious of the viral infection and consequently to request serologic tests to confirm it. We get an explanation of the virus transmission during heterosexual relations by the frequent occurrence and importance of the genital manifestations, leading to consider AIDS as a true sexually transmitted disease. Beside the classical opportunistic infections, the authors draw the attention to three types of manifestations: prurigo, already well known in Haïti and Africa capillary dystrophies, already reported in Haïti donovanosis that, because its epidemiological and etiopathological peculiarities, should be listed within the possible opportunistic infection if we take into consideration the regional pathological environment. In an other correction, syphilis, lepra and cutaneous leishmaniasis have to be carefully monitored, because they are capable to evaluate unexpectedly in some immunodepressive diathesis. Importance of dermato-venereal pathology in black people in tropical zone is explained by the weakness of cutaneous corneal stratum, immunologic disorders linked up to accumulated parasitic pathologies, socio-cultural life with a sexuality without complex.

PIP: Cutaneous manifestations of AIDS in the 1st 91 cases diagnosed in French Guiana between 1982-October 1987 included 40 cases of candidiasis, 29 of prurigo, 13 of herpes simplex, 5 of trichomoniasis, 7 of human papilloma virus, 3 of shingles, 3 of donovanoses, and 1 of Kaposi's sarcoma. There were also 7 cases of seborrheic dermatitis, 6 of capillary dystrophies, and 1 of leucoplasia. 26 of the 40 cases of candidiasis were buccal or buccopharyngeal and 14 were vaginal. Such infections are intense, chronic, and easy to diagnose. Local treatment with Nystatin or Amphotericin B in solution for buccal cases and with imidazole derivatives for vaginal cases should be supplemented with systemic medications such as ketoconazole. Most herpes simplex cases are type 2 genital infections which may be chronic and extensive. A perfusion of Aciclovir usually gives good results in 5 or 6 days. Shingles during AIDS often has nonthoracic localizations; involves itching, pain, and burning sensations; is recurrent, perhaps on the contralateral side; and may leave scars. Sensitivity to Aciclovir is less than for herpes simplex. Human papilloma virus lesions that are not too large are treated locally. Although tuberculosis is in 2nd place after candidiasis among opportunistic infections in AIDS patients in French Guiana. Only 2 cases of cutaneous tuberculosis were observed. 3 cases of Donovanosis due to Calymmatobacterium granulomatis were observed, with 2 cases with 1 couple. Chronic prurigo has been observed frequently in AIDS patients in Africa and Haiti. Along with asthenia, polyadenopathies, and shingles, it is often an early sign of AIDS. The pruritus becomes more and more intense and the only treatment providing some relief is local corticotherapy. The dermatovenereal signs of AIDS in tropical environments should raise suspicions of the disease in undiagnosed cases, and they also provide an explanation for the high rate of heterosexual transmission in individuals with various disorders involving genital lesions. Some dermatological disorders common in French Guiana have not been observed in AIDS patients to date.

Quantitative pathology of coccidioidomycosis in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

This study examines the laboratory aspects of diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis in 11 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and the qualitative and quantitative differences between host responses of AIDS and non-AIDS patients who died with disseminated coccidioidomycosis. Material obtained at bronchoscopy confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary coccidioidomycosis in 67% (6/9) of the patients. Patients with AIDS had a generally poor granulomatous response and statistically significantly increased numbers of spherules in lung tissue compared with non-AIDS patients. Neither antifungal therapy nor duration of clinical disease influenced the number of organisms present. The findings suggest a parallel between AIDS-associated coccidioidomycosis and other granulomatous diseases such as leprosy and schistosomiasis, in which the type of granuloma formation and organism numbers are influenced by the T-lymphocyte milieu.

Mycobacterial infections and AIDS.

PIP: In the West, 1 of the most common opportunistic bacterial infections in AIDS patients is Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI). Physicians have diagnosed it in 15-20% of AIDS patients before they died, and it was identified in 50% of dead AIDS patients. Only 2 cases have been diagnosed in Africa. Before AIDS began afflicting the human population, dissemination of MAI was rare, but in AIDS patients the degree of dissemination is widespread and has been found, at least, in the spleen, lymph nodes, lung, liver, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The portal of entry in MAI infections has not been clearly identified, but some evidence suggests that in AIDS patients the disseminated infection enters through the GI tract. Response to antibiotic treatment for MAI in AIDS patients is poor. Other nontuberculous mycobacteria, such as M. kansasii and 1 case of M. leprae, have also been found in association with AIDS. In the United States, tuberculosis is often associated with AIDS, especially if the cases are black, of foreign origin (particularly from Haiti), or had a history of intravenous drug abuse. Tuberculosis in AIDS patients is more likely to be lymphatic and disseminated than pulmonary. 1 study revealed that 30% of AIDS cases with tuberculosis had pulmonary tuberculosis compared with 80% of those with only tuberculosis. Further, pericardial disease commonly accompanies tuberculosis in AIDS patients. The treatment for tuberculosis in AIDS patients is standard antituberculous drugs. It appears that, at least in the case of tuberculosis, HIV infection causes reactivation of latent infections 1st acquired in childhood. Further research on the association of mycobacterial infection and AIDS will lead to a greater understanding of the immune defense system in all types of patients.^ieng