Okechukwu A.A, Okechukwu O, Jibril Paul
Skin disorders are common in human immunodeficiency virus infected children. Clinical manifestations can thus facilitate in identifying patient’s immune status. The prevalence and pattern of skin disorders in HIV-infected children was determined to understand the relationship between CD4+ cell count and various skin disorders. One hundred and seventy eight (178) HIV-infected children aged 6 weeks to 15 years received care at the special treatment clinic of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Abuja, Nigeria. 93 (52.2%) were identified with different forms of skin disorders, 44 (47.3%) were males, and 49 (52.7%) were females. Their mean age, CD4+cell count and its percentage were 4.9± 1.0 years, 341.8 ± 34.8 cells/ml and 11.9%, respectively. 61.3% of infected children with skin lesions were less than 3 yrs of age, while 38.7% were between the ages of 3-15 yrs. Mother to Child Transmission (69.9%) was the most frequent mode of transmission in these children. The three most common skin manifestations in the study patients were puritic papular eruption 28 (30.1%), impetigo/boil 12 (12.9%), and cutaneous candidiasis in 11 (11.8%). Skin disorders were seen more in patients with severe (58.1%) and advanced (36.5%) immune suppression when compared to those with mild (5.4%) degree of suppression (p<0.001). Multiple skin lesions were also found to be commoner in patients with severe and advanced immune suppression. Prevalence of skin disorder is common in HIV-infected children with puritic papular eruption, impetigo/boil, and cutaneous candidiasis as the commonest manifestations, which significantly correlates with degree of immune suppression.
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