MUCOCUTANEOUS MANIFESTATIONS IN HIV/AIDS INFECTION

Introduction: HIV/AIDS infection is continuously progression in the Republic of Moldova, increasing by 51% from 2015 to 2021, thus burdening the health system and other public areas. Considering that most of patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS develop mucocutaneous manifestations, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of dermatological lesions, their correlation with the clinical stage, respectively the level of CD4+ cells. Materials and methods: the statistical retrospective research included 40 medical records of patients hospitalized in the Dermatological and Communicable Diseases Hospital from 2018 to 2021. The criteria took into consideration was: HIV/AIDS patients confirmed by PCR and 2 rapid tests, age>18 years, presence of mucocutaneous manifestations. Results: From 40 selected patients, 81 dermatological lesions were diagnosed. Of the patients with noninfectious mucocutaneous lesions, there were 22.5%, and the infectious ones were 77.5%. Of the mucosal manifestations, 100% of cases were of oropharyngeal candidiasis, and of the skin, the most relevant was Herpes Zoster infection, diagnosed in 10% of patients. 64% of the lesions had a CD4+ value <200 cells/mmc, present in 23 patients (57%). Conclusion: The correlation between CD4+ cell values <200 cells/mmc and indicative AIDS infections (cutaneous cryptococosis, esophageal candidiasis) suggests that fungal infection is an important marker of immunosuppression in HIV/AIDS infected patients.