Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Background
AIDS is a fatal illness which breaks down the body’s immunity leaving the patient vulnerable
to threatening opportunistic infections, neurological disorders or unusual malignancies.
Otorhinolaryngological manifestations in association with HIV infection are common in
clinical practice, they are non specific therefore immunodeficiency may not be suspected.
Broad objective
To define the prevalence of all otorhinolaryngological manifestations of HIV/AIDS among
HIV infected patients attending at the HIV clinic of MNH.
Study design
Cross sectional descriptive hospital based study.
Setting
HIV clinic at MNH.
Participants
A sample of 384 HIV infected patients attending HIV clinic at MNH.
All were on HAART.
Results
A total of 384 patients were involved in the study.
All of them were on HAART.
There were 129(33.6%) males and 255(66.4%) females, a ratio of about 1:2. ORL
manifestations were reported in 131(34.1%) of the participants. The commonly reported
manifestations included CSOM 29(22.1%), benign lymphoepithelial cyst of the parotid gland
22(16.8%) tonsillitis 20(15.3%), rhinosinusitis 14(10.7%), Kaposis sarcoma 10(7.6%) and oral
cavity/oropharyngeal candidiasis 8(6.1%).
Conclusion
ORL manifestations were reported in about a third of the studied participants. The leading
complaints were CSOM, benign lymphoepithelial cyst of the parotid gland, tonsillitis,
rhinosinusitis, Kaposis sarcoma and oral/ oropharyngeal candidiasis. An otorhinolaryngologist
should be aware of the otorhinolaryngological manifestations of HIV infection so that early
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diagnosis and timely intervention by antiretroviral therapy can be instituted to improve
survival rates.
