[Immigration and HIV Infection. An approximation to parasitic and viral infections]. / Inmigración y VIH. Aproximación a las enfermedades parasitarias y virales.

Highly-active antiretroviral therapy is effective in reducing opportunistic infections in industrialized countries. However, opportunistic parasitic infections remain the leading cause of HIV-related mortality in developing countries. These infections can also affect HIV-positive immigrants residing in Spain, as well as HIV-infected patients traveling to low-income countries. In addition, immigrants often have viral infections caused by herpesvirus, papillomavirus and polyomavirus, which are closely related to risk behaviors and commercial sex. The present article reviews the characteristics of parasitic and viral infections in patients with HIV infection with the aim of improving understanding of this vulnerable population group.

Hydration and obesity among outpatient-based population: H2Ob study.

Recent evidence suggests that obese people are hypohydrated and that water consumption may be a useful indicator for the prevention and treatment of obesity. Nevertheless, there is no agreement regarding the best hydration status indicators and there are few data about the relationship between hydration and body weight. In the present study, we aim to analyze the correlation among hydration status with obesity measured by three different methods (plasma osmolarity, urinary specific gravity (USG) and urinary osmolarity) in a hospital-based outpatient population. We have carried out a cross-sectional study to evaluate the association between obesity and hydration status in 260 patients, average 56.5±15.7 years. Hydration status was estimated by means of plasma osmolarity, urine osmolarity and USG. We did show significant trend of higher urine osmolarity (P=0.03), USG (P=0.000) and plasma osmolarity (P=0.000) with an increase of weight status categories, more accurate in the case of plasma osmolarity. In a multivariate analysis, after controlled by confounders, we found that obesity was associated with plasma osmolarity (OR 1.09; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.17, P=0.009), urine osmolarity (OR 1.00; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.01, P=0.05) and USG (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.04, P=0.05). Our results have shown a more accurate relationship between plasma osmolarity with all body mass index categories. This finding may have clinical implications that must be confirmed in further studies.