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Infectious Diseases
and STD-AIDS
Infectious Diseases and STD-AIDS 2018
Journal of Transmitted Diseases and Immunity
ISSN 2471-8084
A p r i l 2 6 , 2 7 2 0 1 8
R o m e , I t a l y
Page 60
J Transm Dis Immun 2018 Volume 2
DOI: 10.21767/2573-0320-C1-003
H
IV affects all organ systems of body including eye and its appendages. There are many ocular abnormalities seen in patients
with HIV/AIDS (life time risk 50-100%). 200 HIV positive patients (ages 18-50 years) were included in this cross sectional
observational study done in Department of Medicine, PGIMER and Dr RML hospital, New Delhi (India). Patients with history of
trauma/ surgical intervention to the eye or diabetes, hypertension, renal failure and other comorbidities were excluded. Visual
acuity testing, slit lamp examination, tonometry, indirect, direct ophthalmoscopy were done. Of 200 patients, 41 (20.5%) had
ocular abnormalities, majority of which were males. Of these 41, only 50% were symptomatic for any ocular pathology. Most of
the patients had visual acuity of 6/9 and normal IOP. The most common finding was HIV retinopathy (soft exudates 5.5%, retinal
haemorrhages 1.5%). Other findings included keratoconjunctivitis sicca (2.5%), cataract (3.5%), papilledema (2%), optic atrophy
(1%), CMV retinitis (1%) and blepharitis, preseptal cellulitis, conjunctivitis, choroid tubercles, stye (0.5%). Amongst all factors
studied, male gender, longer duration of disease, late initiation of HAART and low CD4 count were found to be the major predictors
of ocular abnormalities (p<0.05). Ocular opportunistic infections were seen only in patients with CD4<100/microL. These
abnormalities were not associated with the type of HAART. Ocular abnormalities are very common in patients with HIV/AIDS
(20%) and most of them are asymptomatic. Majority of these are due HIV itself. Since ART in India is started late in the course of
disease i.e. at CD4 count < 350/microL, the prevalence of ocular lesions are higher when compared to western population. Most
of these eye problems go undiagnosed due to poor access to medical care and ophthalmologists and ignorance of physicians.
The physician should be aware of these eye lesions and screen all the patients of HIV to prevent irreversible damage to the eye.
bhatiakanu13@gmail.comPredictors of ocular abnormalities in patients
with HIV/AIDS
K. Priya, A. K Varshney, T. Dewan and P. Gupta
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, India