Cutaneous Manifestations of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/AIDS Patients in Albania

Dermatologic diseases are common in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected population. Cutaneous manifestations of HIV disease may result from HIV infection itself or from opportunistic disorders secondary to the declined immunocompetence due to the disease.

The aim of this study is to determine the pattern of c0utaneous manifestations in HIV in an adult HIV Clinic in Tirana.

This is a retrospective study including 355 HIV-positive patients with cutaneous manifestations who referred to the Ambulatory Clinic for HIV/AIDS, at the Infective Service and Dermatology Service of University Hospital Centre "Mother Theresa," Tirana, Albania over the period 2008-2015.

The mean age of patients was 43.08 (±11.8) years, with a range 15-79 years. Two hundred and forty-seven (69.6%) of patients were male and 108 (30.4%) female. Male-to-female ratio is 2.3:1. The study found a significant trend of increasing incidence of dermatological pathologies with increasing stage of the disease. Fifty-five (15.5%) of patients with cutaneous lesions were in Stage 1, 132 (37.2%) in Stage 2, and 168 (47.4%) in Stage 3 (P < 0.001). As for the HIV transmission method, the majority of patients (71%) were infected through heterosexual contact, followed by homosexual contact (16.3%), blood transfusion (3.4%), injecting drug user (2.3%), while for 7% of patients the mode of transmission was unknown.

Early recognition of the cutaneous manifestation can help in better management of HIV infection in resource-poor setting, as it can indicate the progression of the disease and underlying immune status.