Visceral Leishmaniasis in Hospitalized HIV-Infected Patients in Pernambuco, Brazil.

Visceral Leishmaniasis in Hospitalized HIV-Infected Patients in Pernambuco, Brazil. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018 Oct 15;: Authors: Guedes DL, Medeiros Z, Dionísio da Silva E, Martins de Vasconcelos AV, Santana da Silva M, Lopes da Silva MA, Ramos de Araújo PS, Miranda-Filho DB Abstract Common in four continents, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an important but neglected disease. HIV infection increases the risk of developing VL in people from leishmaniasis-endemic areas, with worse prognosis when there is coinfection. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of HIV/VL coinfection in patients admitted in three referral hospitals for HIV/AIDS in Pernambuco, Brazil, and to compare epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics among HIV/VL coinfected and HIV mono-infected individuals. The sample consisted of HIV patients aged 18 years or more, in a period of data collection of 6 months. We performed four Leishmania tests-PCR, direct agglutination test, rK39, and latex agglutination test-and individuals with at least one positive test were considered coinfected. The HIV/VL coinfection prevalence we found was 16.9%. We observed large variation in prevalence according to the Leishmania test used, with low coincidence of positive tests. The most frequent symptoms found were weight loss (75.6%), fever (67.6%), and cough (55.3%). When we compared HIV/VL coinfected and HIV mono-infected groups we did not observe ...
Source: The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Tags: Am J Trop Med Hyg Source Type: research