[Human immunodeficiency virus infection in women]

From last years eighty's decade the number of women with HIV infection have significantly increased. To know the epidemiological and clinic trades in this group we studied retrospectively 476 HIV infected patients attending in a General Hospital from January 1986 to June 1993. Seventy nine (16.5%) were female and 397 male. The mean female group was 25.8 years, 61.9% were IVDUs and 30.4% heterosexual transmission. This last transmission route was more important between females than males (5%) (p < 0.001) and in 1992 the 55% of women been infected by this way. The mean CD4 count was 643 cel/ml in the female group at the diagnostic time and 21.7% developed antigenaemia without difference with the male group. 59.7% of women were no symptoms at the diagnosis time and 14.3% were AIDS, no differences with men, but more in the female group developed AIDS along following time 39.5% in front of 24.7% in the male group (p < 0.05). Disseminated Tuberculosis (DTB) (29.1%) and Wasting Syndrome (WS) (29.1%) were the more frecuent AIDS defining conditions in the female group. The more frecuent complications were: Oropharynx Candidiasis 39.1%, Esophagus Candidiasis 6.3%, WS 11%, DTB 12.65%, PCP 10.12% and Neoplasias 5.06%. Fourteen women became pregnant during HIV infection, no clinical nor immunological differences were observed in this group with the control. The treatment (66%) and following (46.8%), compliance was better between women than men. The rise of women with HIV infection, the poor development in this group described by some authors, so far gynecological aspect and vertical transmission makes HIV infection in women an major health problem.