Is seborrhoeic dermatitis a clinical marker of HIV disease?

The Authors have conducted a cohort study on a group of subjects HIV positive, asymptomatic, (group A, according to CDC criteria) who presented Seborrhoeic dermatitis (SD), to evaluate if this cutaneous finding could be considered a marker of the HIV disease. Previously the Authors had shown that healthy subjects affected by SD showed at blood level an imbalance in the ratio of PL-PUFA (fundamental components of cell walls) to the antioxidants Vitamin E (Vit E) and gluthathion peroxidase (GSH-Px); furthermore the Authors reported SD as being constantly present in AIDS patients, in which they found more severe biochemical changes. On these bases they enrolled 72 HIV positive individuals that presented at STD-AIDS Unit of the S Gallicano Institute in the years 1994-1995 and followed them, until the 1998. They were all asymptomatic and were divided at the beginning in two subgroups, respectively with and without SD. Records were made regularly of their clinical, laboratory and biochemical data. The results highlighted the fact that SD-HIV positive individuals had severe biochemical alterations and a worse clinical evolution (higher incidence of opportunistic events). These data confirm on the hand the SD as a cutaneous marker of HIV disease not only, but also its presence could indicate the possibility of a worse progression of the disease. Finally the Authors suggest the possibility of a dietary pharmacological treatment, associated, or not, with antiretroviral therapy, to the aim to improve cell membrane defences and thereby cell immunity itself.