Oral manifestations in 101 Cambodians with HIV and AIDS

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Cambodia has become a major problem in the last 7-8 years, mainly because in this formerly war-stricken country the socioeconomic situation is only slowly improving. Since only very few studies have been published to date on the oral health status of Cambodian HIV/AIDS patients, it was the purpose of the present investigation to study oral manifestations in Cambodian patients with HIV disease.

One hundred one Cambodian patients with HIV infection or AIDS were examined for the presence of oral manifestations in one medical center in Phomh Penh, Cambodia.

Sixty-three men and 38 women with a median age of 32 years were examined (age range 7.5-63.5 years). Of these patients, 42.6% were smokers, 46.5% of men were heavy drinkers and 90.5% of men were promiscuous compared with 5.3% of women. The most frequent AIDS-defining diseases were wasting syndrome (54.5%), Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PcP) (19.8%) and tuberculosis (18.8%). Puritic papular eruption, a common cutaneous manifestation in HIV-infected patients, was seen in 17.8% of patients. Candida-associated infections of the oral cavity were most common. Among the patients, 52.5% revealed pseudomembranous candidiasis and 35.6% had bilateral hairy leukoplakia. Only 10% of patients had no oral lesions. Also common were necrotising ulcerative gingivo-periodontal diseases (27.7%).

The general health status of 101 Cambodian patients with HIV infection and AIDS was poor, and they demonstrated a large number of oral manifestations. Antiretroviral therapy is presently not available and only a fraction of patients receives antimycotic treatment (25.7%). HIV infection and the AIDS epidemic in Cambodia have become a serious problem and patients urgently need adequate diagnosis and antiretroviral therapies.