Hidradenitis suppurativa in a HIV-infected child

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a painful and chronic condition, commonly occurs in women and coincides with post-pubertal increase in sex hormones. A 13-year-old pre-pubertal HIV-infected male child presented to our clinic with a discharging right axillary lymph node swelling. The biopsy of the lesion showed features of HS. The patient was treated with oral antibiotics, oral steroids, and local antibiotic wash. Though the patient responded to this treatment, the clinical response was not adequate and the lesion recurred. Subsequently, the child was started on antiretroviral therapy (zidovudine, lamivudine, and nevirapine). Following these medications, the lesions healed and had not recurred till we last examined the child. Thus, this is a rare presentation of a known condition in an HIV-infected pre-pubertal male child, which did not respond to usual modalities of treatment and had to be treated with antiretroviral therapy.