Characteristics and outcome variables of HIV cases at a university-based medical practice

An increasing number of AIDS cases occur each year in West Virginia despite its small urban population. From January 1984 to March 1991 at the Marshall University based multispecialty internal medicine group (the University Physicians in Internal Medicine), 66 HIV-infected persons were treated, most of whom are native West Virginians and always resided in the state. The study group consisted of 61 men and 5 women; four-fifths of the men are homosexual/bisexual and one-seventh used intravenous illicit drugs. Four women acquired infection heterosexually and one from transfusion. Twenty-eight patients never had any opportunistic infection (OI) and 38 experienced at least one OI, usually Pneumocystis carinii Pneumonia. About two-fifths of patients had CD4 counts less than 200 cells/cmm at their initial examination. Three-fourths of patients received AZT, six ddI, and most aerosolized pentamidine. Nineteen patients have died, all of whom suffered at least one OI. The mean interval until death from HIV infection and from AIDS was about 27 and 11.5 months, respectively.