Opportunistic infection in AIDS patients: Clinical features, prognosis and its risk factors

  Background  Nowadays, more than one million people are infected with HIV in China. The mortality of AIDS is the highest in all the infectious diseases, and opportunistic infection is the main cause.

  Objective  To study the clinical characteristics and predisposing factors of opportunistic infections and risk factors of death in AIDS patients.

  Methods  A retrospective analysis of 398AIDS patients who were admitted into the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from 2011 to 2018 was performed, and 174 of them were complicated with opportunistic infections.

  Results  The top three clinical manifestations of AIDS patients with opportunistic infection were fever (82.18%), cough (62.07%), and weakness (45.98%). The respiratory system was most often involved with opportunistic infections (73.56%).Among 174 patients with opportunistic infection, 35 died, with a mortality rate of 20.11%. The patients with CD4⁺ T cells count less than 200/μL and those who did not take highly active antiretroviral treatment(HAART) had higher mortality.

  Conclusion  AIDS patients with lower CD4⁺ T cells have higher probability of opportunistic infection. CD4⁺ T cells counts and HAART are closely related to the prognosis of patients.