HIV, Diarrhoea, Bacteria, CD4.
BACKGROUND
The number of HIV-positive patients is increasing in India. Data on the prevalence of diarrhoea and the spectrum of bacteria responsible for diarrhoea in HIV- positive patients is lacking in our area. The identification of enteric pathogens in patients with HIV/AIDS is important because an increasing array of therapeutic regimens is becoming available to treat many of these infections. Thus, an attempt is done to elucidate the associations between causative bacteria of acute and chronic diarrhoea and CD4 count.
METHODS
Stool specimens were obtained over a period of eighteen months from HIV infected adults with diarrhoea presenting to Shri B M Patil Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Vijayapura. In all patients with diarrhoea, stool specimens were examined by microscopy and cultures to identify bacterial pathogens and blood sample was analysed for CD4 count.
RESULTS
A total of 80 individuals were enrolled in this study. Cases included 46 males and 34 females. Among the cases, maximum subjects were found to be in the age group of 30-40 years in which 23 (62.2%) were males and 14 (37.8%) were females. 56 had acute and 24 had chronic diarrhoea. The percentages of bacteria isolated were 5 (8.9%) in acute and 16 (66.7%) in chronic diarrhoea respectively. The most common bacteria isolated was E. Coli (17.5%) followed by Klebsiella (5%) and Shigella Sps (3.75%). Patients with chronic diarrhoea had lower CD4 cell counts. The maximum bacterial isolation was in the patients whose CD4 cell counts were below 200 cells/mm3.
CONCLUSION
Bacterial isolation was most strongly associated with low CD4 counts and chronic diarrhoea. E. coli was isolated maximum among all the bacteria in the HIV patients. Over two-thirds of diarrhoeal episodes were undiagnosed, suggesting that unidentified agents or primary HIV enteropathy are important causes of diarrhoea in this population. There is a strong negative association between duration of diarrhoea and CD4 levels.
