Hospital based study of skin manifestations in HIV infected persons from Eastern India

Abstract

HIV infection is associated with many skin manifestations. These may result from the infection itself, drugs, bacterial colonisation or as immune reconstitution syndrome. Studies concerning skin manifestations in HIV infection are very rare from India. This was a cross sectional hospital based study done in a referral clinic of Eastern India. Patients attending this clinic were screened for any cutaneous disorder and suitably tested. We had a total of 490 patients over one year, out of which 184 (37.6%) were found to have cutaneous diseases. Non-specific pruritus was the commonest manifestation, followed by oral candidiasis (n=21) and generalised hyperpigmentation (n=18). Altogether 64 cases (34.8%) were of infective aetiology with commonest conditions being scabies (n=15) and genital ulcers (n=9). Skin conditions were fairly common in our study.