Prevalencia de infección por VIH en pacientes con patología dermatológica en un centro de referencia nacional 2005-2006 / HIV infection prevalence in patients having cutaneous pathology in a national reference center (2005-2006)

Objetivo Estimar la prevalencia de infección por VIH en pacientes con patología cutánea en un centro de referencia nacional en Colombia. Métodos Se realizó un estudio de corte transversal, en pacientes dermópatas mayores de 18 años, sin diagnóstico previo de infección por VIH. Se calculó un tamaño muestral de 1 537 pacientes. Se definió como caso confirmado un paciente con pruebas positivas de Elisa y Western Blott. La prevalencia se calculó como el número de casos confirmados sobre el total de la población. Se evaluaron asociaciones mediante el estimador de razón de prevalencias. Resultados Ingresaron al estudio 1 649 pacientes. En total 20 sujetos fueron definidos como caso confirmado, para un prevalencia del 1,21 por ciento. Los moluscos contagiosos y la dermatitis seborreica fueron las enfermedades con la más alta prevalencia de infección por VIH no diagnosticada previamente (3,91 por ciento y 2,05 por ciento respectivamente). La razón de prevalencias de molusco contagioso e infección por VIH fue de 3,96 (p: 0,01562). Conclusiones Los pacientes mayores de 18 años con diagnóstico de moluscos contagioso tienen casi 4 veces el riesgo de los otros pacientes dermópatas de tener infección por VIH.

Objective Determining the prevalence of HIV infection in patients suffering from cutaneous disease in a national reference center in Colombia. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of patients aged 18 or older, having cutaneous pathology and no previous HIV diagnosis. The calculated sample size was 1,537 patients. A confirmed case was defined as being that of a patient having positive results in the ELISA and Western blot tests. Prevalence was the number of confirmed cases divided by the total population. The associations were measured by using prevalence ratio. Results 1,649 patients were enrolled in the study. Our center’s prevalence was 1.21 percent (20 cases). Molluscum contagiosum and seborrheic dermatitis were the diseases having the highest prevalence of HIV infection which had not been previously diagnosed (3.91 percent and 2.05 percent, respectively). Molluscum contagiosum and HIV infection prevalence ratio was 3.96 (p: 0.01562). Conclusions The risk of HIV infection in patients aged 18 or older suffering from Molluscum contagiosum was nearly 4 times higher than the risk in patients having other cutaneous pathologies.

Cáncer de Piel: Perfil Epidemiológico de un Centro de Referencia en Colombia 2003-2005 / Skin cancer: a Colombian reference centre's epidemiological profile 2003-2005

Con el objetivo de conocer el perfil epidemiológico y estimar la incidencia por tipo tumoral de cáncer de piel, entre los años 2003-2005, en el Centro Dermatológico Federico Lleras Acosta, Bogotá Colombia, se identificaron los casos nuevos de patología tumoral maligna diagnosticados en este período. Se registraron 168 659 diagnósticos confirmados nuevos, de los cuales 2 184 correspondieron a tumores malignos de piel. El carcinoma basocelular presentó un aumento de 4 por 1 000 en el 2003, a 11 por 1 000 en el 2005. Los pacientes con carcinoma escamocelular pasaron de 1 caso por 1 000 en el 2003, a 3 casos por 1 000 en el 2005. Los casos de melanoma pasaron de 2,7 por 10 000 en el 2003, a 13 por 10 000 en el 2005.

Skin cancer cases were identified from 2003-2005 to ascertain the epidemiological profile and incidence of skin cancer at the Centro Dermatológico Federico Lleras Acosta-Colombia. 168 659 confirmed diagnoses were registered between 2003 and 2005, 2 184 corresponding to skin cancer. Basal cell carcinoma increased from 4 per 1 000 in 2003 to 11 per 1 000 in 2005. Patients suffering from squamous cell carcinoma increased from 1 per 1 000 in 2003 to 3 per 1 000 in 2005. Cases of melanoma increased from 2,7 per 10 000 in 2003 to 13 per 10 000 in 2005.

Polymerase chain reaction with two molecular targets in mucosal leishmaniasis' diagnosis: a validation study

We validated the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a composite reference standard in 61 patients clinically suspected of having mucosal leishmaniasis, 36 of which were cases and 25 were non-cases according to this reference standard. Patient classification and test application were carried out independently by two blind observers. One pair of primers was used to amplify a fragment of 120 bp in the conserved region of kDNA and another pair was used to amplify the internal transcript spacers (ITS) rDNA. PCR showed 68.6 percent (95 percent CI 59.2-72.6) sensitivity and 92 percent (95 percent CI 78.9-97.7) specificity; positive likelihood ratio: 8.6 (95 percent CI 2.8-31.3) and negative likelihood ratio: 0.3 (95 percent CI 0.3-0.5), when kDNA molecular target was amplified. The test performed better on sensitivity using this target compared to the ITS rDNA molecular target which showed 40 percent (95 percent CI 31.5-42.3) sensitivity and 96 percent (95 percent CI 84.1-99.3) specificity; positive likelihood ratio: 10 (95 percent CI 2.0-58.8) and negative likelihood ratio: 0.6 (95 percent CI 0.6-0.8). The inter-observer agreement was excellent for both tests. Based upon results obtained and due to low performance of conventional methods for diagnosing mucosal leishmaniasis, we consider PCR with kDNA as molecular target is a useful diagnostic test and the ITS rDNA molecular target is useful when the aim is to identify species.