pubmed:otherAbstract |
PIP: This study sought to correlate deep bacterial infection with HIV infection and evaluate the influence of HIV on clinical practice and outcome in patients with meningitis, pneumonia, or pyomyositis. At University Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 165 patients were admitted to the hospital with purulent meningitis, pneumonia, or pyomyositis and were evaluated in a prospective, cross-sectional study along with 165 age- and sex-matched controls from orthopedic/trauma wards to determine HIV seroprevalence. Of the 78 patients with purulent meningitis, 19 (24%) were HIV-seropositive, as compared with 13 (17%) in the control group (p=0.345). Of 36 patients with meningitis seen before a meningococcal epidemic affected Dar es Salaam, there was a statistically significant association with HIV infection (p=0.013). 10 of 19 (53%) HIV-seropositives died, compared with 9 of 59 (15%) seronegatives (p=0.028). Of patients with pneumococcal meningitis, 5 of 6 (83%) seropositives died, compared with 2 of 12 (17%) seronegatives (p=0.013). 15 of 45 (33%) patients with pneumonia were HIV-seropositive compared with 4 (9%) in the control group (p=0.001). There was no difference in mortality between seropositive and seronegative patients with pneumonia. HIV seroprevalence was 62% among 42 patients with pyomyositis and 12% among 42 controls (p0.0001). 18 of 25 (72%) seropositive patients with pyomyositis fulfilled the WHO clinical case definition of AIDS. Response to recommended antibiotic treatment was satisfactory among patients with pneumonia and pyomyositis. These results show a strong association between pyomyositis, pneumonia, and HIV infection. They also indicate an increased mortality associated with HIV infection in those patients with pyogenic meningitis, especially pneumococcal meningitis. Pyomyositis should be considered an indicator of stage III HIV disease in the proposed WHO clinical staging system.
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