Socio-demographic and clinical profile of HIV seropositives in tertiary care teaching hospital of South India

Background: Since the inception of the integrated counselling and testing centre (ICTC) at all teaching reference institutions and associated hospitals, there was very few cases observed on the clinical experiences in HIV/AIDS positive cases in institution. Aim: The aim of this study was to delineate the epidemiological profile of HIV/AIDS seropositive cases and which included to study the number of HIV seropositive patients from February 2013 to June 2014; common signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS seropositive patients; age and sex distribution of all seropositive cases; mode of transmission of HIV infection; residence and profession profile of seropositive cases and different types of opportunistic infections in these patients. Material and methods: Present study was documental and analytical descriptive and it was conducted at the tertiary care teaching institution and associated hospitals through data collection of 105 records of individual who tested positive for HIV by three rapid test methods using three different antigens at integrated counselling and testing centre (ICTC). Demographic variables such as age, sex and occupation, data on mode of transmission and clinical manifestation were examined together. Results: A total of 105 patients included in which 59 (56.2%) male and 46 (43.8%) females. The peak incidence was found in the age group of 26 to 45 years (62.8%). Majority of HIV positive patients belonged to skilled workers followed by unemployed and agricultural workers. Transmission of infection was through sexual contact and 54.2% expressed that they do not know how they acquire this infection. One case identified that the transmission occur through homosexuals. Vertical transmission and blood transfusion accounted in 0.9% cases. The educational categories were mainly observed among the secondary schoolings (47.6%). Spouse testing also done where 16 subjected were included among them 8 were concordant couples and 8 were discordant. Among the patients attended the ART centers, it was found that 64 out of 105 were under ART treatment and 11 died due to opportunistic infections. Among 105 cases, 55 were symptomatic (6 were having tuberculosis infection) and 50 were asymptomatic. Conclusion: Tuberculosis and candidiasis were common opportunistic infection followed by herpes zoster and varicella. This study highlighted the burden of HIV/AIDS patients in the study place. The results can be useful for various programs in health promotions in patients of HIV/AIDS from this region.