Clinical characteristics and natural history of human immunodeficiency virus infection. Study in a Chilean population served at a multiprofessional pilot center Características clínicas e historia natural de la infección por virus de inmunodeficiencia hum

Abstract

Four hundred and eighty six infected adults (90.7% men) were prospectively followed from 1988 to 1993 at a multiprofessional center in Santiago, Chile. 87.8% of male patients (pts)--84% of them homo/bisexual--and 64.4% of women acquired the infection sexually. At the beginning of the follow up (F/U) 51% of men and 71% of women were asymptomatic and 30% of the total group had AIDS. (AIDS definition: CDC 1993, excluded CD4 lymphocyte count < 200 x mm3). 240/486 (49.4%) had developed AIDS at the end of the study (12/31/93). AIDS defining events (ADE) were: interstitial pneumonia (confirmed or suggestive as caused by P. carinii [PCP]), 25%; tuberculosis (all forms), 22.1%; wasting, 13.8%; Kaposi Sarcoma, 9.2%; esophageal candidiasis, 6.7%; isosporiasis, 5.4%. Of all PCP cases, 72% were ADE, the rest, post.AIDS'. As expected, AIDS pts continued having major complications (mainly bacterial pneumonias, PCPs, esophagitis, tuberculosis and diarrhea due to I. belli and Cryptosporidium. Less freq