The impact of HIV infection on surgical gastrointestinal diseases at the Princess Marina Hospital, Gaborone, Botswana: a cross-sectional study

Introduction

various gastrointestinal diseases affect surgical patients. Literature on the burden and outcomes of surgical gastrointestinal diseases in a high HIV infection prevalence is scares. This study aimed to investigate this topic at the Princess Marina Hospital.

Methods

medical records of patients admitted with surgical gastrointestinal diseases to adult surgical wards were reviewed from August 2017 to July 2018. Demographics, date of admission and discharge, HIV status, CD4 count, and outcomes were analyzed.

Results

six-hundred and ninety-eight (698) patients with known HIV infection status and surgical gastrointestinal diseases were admitted. HIV+ patients contributed 274 (39.3%). Among HIV+, females contributed 147 (53.6%). Symptomatic gallbladder stone disease was significantly higher in HIV- patients, p=0.008; while anal cancers, p=0.001, anal warts, p=0.001, and perianal infections and fistulae, p=0.010 were significantly higher in HIV+ patients. Overall, surgical site infections were recorded in 15 (2.1%) and mortalities in 43 (6.2%). The mortality rate was higher in HIV+ than in HIV- patients, p=0.048. The total number of surgical procedures and median hospital stays among HIV- and HIV+ patients were not statistically significant, p=0.868 and p=0.249 respectively. The total number of complications, p=0.338, mortality, p=0.149, and median hospital stay, p=0.181, among HIV+ patients based on CD4 count, < 200 vs. > 200, were not significantly different.

Conclusion

symptomatic gallbladder stone diseases were significantly higher in HIV- patients; while anal cancer, anal warts, and perianal infections and perianal fistulae were significantly higher in HIV+ patients. HIV+ patients had a significantly higher mortality rate than HIV- patients, and this needs further investigation.

Association of time since pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine receipt and CD4 count with antibody response to the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in HIV-infected adults

INTRODUCTION

Pneumococcal infection is a leading cause of illness and death in HIV-infected adults. Current United States guidelines for HIV-infected adults recommend a single dose of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-13) at any CD4 count and at least 1 y after receipt of the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV). PPV is known to lead to hyporesponsiveness to subsequent pneumococcal vaccines for at least 1 y Whether PCV-13 would be more immunogenic if administered later after PPV receipt or at higher CD4 counts has not been tested.

METHODS

We prospectively collected serum from 96 HIV-infected adults before and after PCV-13 receipt, and measured antibody concentrations against 4 pneumococcal serotypes (3, 6A, 7F, and 19A) via indirect ELISA according to the WHO protocol. Post-booster antibody concentrations and fold-rise in antibody concentrations were compared according to time from PPV receipt and baseline CD4 count using univariate and multivariate analyses.

RESULTS

PPV receipt >3 versus 1-3 y prior did not significantly change post-vaccination antibody concentrations, but was associated with slightly higher fold-rise in antibody concentration for the 3 tested serotypes included in PPV, though this only reached significance for serotype 7F. CD4 count was significantly associated with post-vaccination antibody concentrations for 3 of 4 serotypes, but not for fold-rise in antibody concentration for any serotype.

CONCLUSION

Waiting longer than 1 y after PPV receipt to administer PCV-13 may slightly improve the antibody response to serotypes included in both vaccines. While higher CD4 count at PCV-13 administration results in higher post-vaccination antibody concentrations, this is likely because higher CD4 count is also associated with higher pre-vaccination antibody concentrations.

Clinico-Immunological Profile of Children Infected with HIV Through Vertical Transmission, in Southern India

BACKGROUND

Karnataka, being "High Prevalent State" of southern India, the HIV infection among antenatal women has crossed 1%. There are very few reports available with CD4 count and stage wise clinical spectrum among children. The clinical spectrum among HIV infected infants and children vary in different areas of the world. Hence it is important to know the spectrum of opportunistic infections and their respective CD4 count among HIV infected children of our locality.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The opportunistic infections among 31 paediatric seropositive patients were evaluated. These all patients were classified as per CDC guide lines into stage I, stage II, and stage III based on CD4 counts of > 1000cells/μl, 500-999 cells/μl,<500cells/μl respectively. The opportunistic infections were diagnosed by standard laboratory investigations. Clinical spectrum presented by each stage children was documented.

RESULTS

Children in stage I were 5(16.1%),stage II 14(45.1%) and stage III 12(38.7%). Oral candidiasis (29%) was the commonest, followed by recurrent respiratory tract infection (25.8%), tubercular lymphadenitis (16.1%) and chronic diarrhoea (12.9%).

CONCLUSION

The present study showed the children with higher CD4 count had few infections and children with lower CD4 count presented with multiple opportunistic infections. This study also showed vertical transmission as the sole mode of transmission.

Evaluation of CD4+ T cells in HIV patients presenting with malaria at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Nigeria

CD4 count is an important immunological marker of disease progression in HIV seropositive patients. This study was carried out to determine the effect of malaria or fever of unknown origin on the population of CD4+ T lymphocytes of HIV seropositive patients attending the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) clinic of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. 36 subjects were selected for this study. Ongoing history of fever was used as a case definition for malaria and malaria was confirmed from microscopic examination of thick and thin film of blood sample obtained from the patients during presentation with fever. The CD4 count was evaluated during presentation of fever and post-fever using flow cytometry. There was significant decrease in CD4 count of the patients. However, upon classifying the patients into 2 groups - those that returned to the clinic after a week and those that returned after a month; a significant increase in CD4 count was noticed in the group that returned after a week, while a significant decrease was noticed in the group that returned after a month (at p value of 95 %). Further classification of the patients based on presence of malaria parasite, and body temperature resulted in varying effects on CD4 count post-fever (in the general group, 27 were positive for malaria parasites). Of these 27, there was an increase in CD4 count in 9 (33.3 %). However in the group that returned after a week, all 6 (100 %) that were positive for malaria parasites showed increase in CD4 count. Five (26.3 %) of the 19 patients that had body temperature within the range of 35.5-37.4 °C showed an increase in CD4 count, while 7 (41.2 %) of the 17 patients that had body temperature of 37.5 °C and above showed an increase in CD4 count. The results led to the conclusion that while some components of the immune response to malaria could strengthen the immune system of HIV seropositive patients by increasing their CD4 count, other components will suppress their immunity by decreasing their CD4 count, accelerating the progression to AIDS.