Spectrum of dermatopathologic lesions associated with HIV/AIDS in India

Histopatholgoical analysis of cutaneous lesions in 195 patients with HIV/AIDS was carried out between 1989 to 1997 at tertiary level public hospital in Mumbai. 104/195 (53%) cases showed infectious diseases which comprised of molluscum contagiosum (28), condyloma accuminata (18), verruca vulgaris (7), varicella zoster (5), syphilis (14), tuberculosis (13), donovanosis (4), leprosy (2), chancroid (2), bacillary angiomatosis (2), lymphogranuloma venercum (1), Norwegian scabies (3), leishmaniasis (2), demodicidosis (1), crytococcosis (1), tinea versicolor (1). In 12 (6%) cases neoplasms were observed which included squamous cell carcinoma (9), basal cell carcinoma (2) and kaposi's sarcoma (1) case. The miscellaneous conditions were observed in 66(33.5%) cases which comprised of psoriasis (21), papular urticaria (13), Reiter's disease (7) and eosinophilic folliculitis (6). The prevalence of cutaneous tuberculosis observed in this study is high as compared with western literature while the prevalence of kaposis's sarcoma is quite low as compared with reports from Africa, USA and United Kingdom.