Manjulata Dash, Susanta Kumar Meher, Tanmay Padhi
BACKGROUND Very few studies exist on the clinical and epidemiological profile of cutaneous diseases among patients of HIV infection in western Odisha. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was conducted to study the clinical spectrum of cutaneous manifestations among patients with HIV infection and to study their correlation with CD4 cell count. It was a hospital based prospective study where a total of 200 HIV seropositive patients with dermatological manifestation were enrolled. RESULTS Out of the 200 patients, 138 patients were males and 62 females. Occupation wise 24.5% were labourers, 18.5% housewives, 14% farmer and 11% were drivers. 11% had bacterial infection with furunculosis being most common seen in 10 patients (5%), out which 2 patients had CD4 count <200 cells/cumm. Fungal infection was seen in 81 patients with Tinea unguium being the most common seen in 23 patients. Only 5% patients had viral infection and verruca vulgaris was seen in 1.5% of them. Seborrhoeic dermatitis was seen in 35 patients (17.5%), out of them majority (29 patients) had CD4 count <500 cells/cumm, followed by prurigo simplex in 25 patients (12.5%), ichthyosis in 10 patients (5%), xerosis in 7 patients (3.5%), pruritic papular eruption and oral lichen planus were seen in 6 patients (3%) each. CONCLUSION A low CD4 count was associated with increased incidence of xerosis, seborrheic dermatitis, pruritic papular eruption, adverse drug eruptions when compared with high CD4 count.
