Prevalence, clinical characteristics and outcome of severe primary HIV-1 infection: A prospective cohort study

Severe cases of primary HIV infection have been described in patients presenting with neurological involvement, AIDS defining events or other life-threatening events. These severe forms have not been fully studied.

To determine the prevalence and characteristics of severe PHI in a hospital-based cohort of primary HIV infection, and the response to the early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) at 12 months.

Every patient with PHI attending Hospital Clínic of Barcelona (1997-2015) was evaluated. Severe PHI was defined using clinical, analytical and immunological criteria. Chi-squared test was used for categorical variables and Student's t-test for quantitative variables.

33% of 224 PHI patients (95% CI: 26.84%-39.16%) had a severe PHI. These patients had more symptoms, abnormal analytical parameters and hospital admissions. The severe PHI group had a significantly higher viral load although no differences were observed at 12 months in terms of viral suppression or CD4 count recovery. None died during PHI.

Up to one third of patients in our cohort presented with a severe PHI, which was associated with higher hospitalization rates and higher plasma HIV RNA viral load. However, severe forms were not associated to a worse clinical, immunological or virological outcome at 12 months.