Unrecognized HIV infection in asymptomatic volunteer blood donors at district Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Epidemiology and clinical spectrum of pediatric patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection: A 15 years' experience

Objective

To view the different patterns of presentation of HIV in pediatric population along with mode of transmission and associated co infections and co morbidities.

Methods

It was a retrospective study conducted at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, in which we evaluated the records of pediatric patients diagnosed with HIV from 2005 to 2020. All the data like age, gender, area, presenting complaints, examination findings at the time of diagnosis, mode of transmission, co infection and co morbidities were recorded. Descriptive analysis was done to calculate frequencies and means of the variables. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis.

Results

Ninety four participants were evaluated with male to female ratio as 1.8:1 and mean age of 5.2 years. Majority of patients (44%) were below 4 years. Fever (55%) was the most reported symptom followed by cough (39%), diarrhoea (29%), pallor (27%), shortness of breath (26%), weight loss (23%) and failure to thrive (22%). Co infection with TB was present in (16%). Eight (9%) patients were thalassaemic. Mother to child transmission (60%) was the commonest mode of transmission followed by blood transfusion (23%) and parenteral transmission (6%).

Conclusion

In children HIV is more prevalent in males especially under 4 years with fever, cough, diarrhea and pallor being the common symptoms at presentation. Tuberculosis is the commonest co infection as we are endemic for TB and mother to child transmission is the commonest mode of transmission as there was no outbreak in our area.

The contemporary immunoassays for HIV diagnosis: a concise overview

Recent advances in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnostics have improved the management of disease progression significantly, which have also boosted the efficacy of antiviral therapies. The detection of HIV at the earliest is very important. A highly recognized and effective virological biomarker for acute HIV infections is p24 antigen. This brief overview is based on advances of HIV diagnosis while focusing on the latest HIV testing technologies including HIV-specific antigens detecting assays of both anti-HIV antibodies and p24 antigen. In addition to other emerging molecular diagnostics for acute HIV infection, the utilization of p24 antigen has been summarized. Moreover, it has been explained how these immunoassays have reduced the window period for detection of HIV in the acute stage of infection.

Chemiluminescent-microparticle-immunoassay-based detection and prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection in Islamabad, Pakistan

An advanced detection assay is important for clinical diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in asymptomatic individuals. The first step in timely treatment and management of the infection is the early detection of HIV. In this study, we determined the prevalence of HIV in Islamabad for the first time using a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA), which is an advanced serological diagnostic technique. A total of 3659 samples were obtained from the general public in Islamabad, Pakistan, and 85 of them were found to be positive for HIV infection (2.32% prevalence). Of the positive subjects, 78.82% (67/85) were male, 10.6% (9/85) were female, and 10.6% (9/85) were of unidentified gender. The results revealed a significant relationship between age groups and HIV status. The age group of 21- to 30-year-olds was found to have the highest rate of HIV infection, and the rate of HIV infection in males was higher than in females.