Clinical profile of sexually transmitted infections in people living with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Introduction: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) include all STDs with additional asymptomatic but transmissible infections. HIV and other STIs synergize to aggravate the associated morbidity of each other in the human body. Various studies have established the epidemiologic synergy between STDs and HIV. STIs have become a major public health problem in India with the advent of HIV/AIDS epidemic. The present study aims to observe the clinical profile of STIs in HIV positive patients and also to identify the atypical presentations of STIs in HIV infected individuals.

Materials & Methods: This observational study comprised of 100 consecutive cases of HIV positive patients with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) attending the outpatient department of DVL, Gandhi Hospital, Secunderabad, from January 2015 to June 2016.

Results & Discussion: In the present study, out of 100 cases included, majority of the patients were males belonged to lower socioeconomic group. Most common complaints with which patients presented were genital growths, genital ulcers and genital discharge. In the present study genital herpes was the most common STD followed by genital warts. Among bacterial STDs in our study syphilis was seen in 23% of the patients and was the third most common STI. Genital candidiasis was the commonest fungal infection which was seen in 22% It was observed in our study that bacterial STIs (70.5%), fungal STIs (78.5%) and concurrent multiple STIs (66.6%) were more common in patients with CD₄ more than 200 cells/cu. mm. our study emphasizes the need to screen for HIV in patients presenting with STI complaints and to look for other STIs in HIV positive individuals. An accurate evaluation of the prevalence and spectrum of STIs helps to plan good management strategies in preventing STIs in HIV patients.