Clinical presentation of H.I.V positive intravenous drug abusers

ABSTRACT

Of 45 persons who were tested for the presence of HIV antibodies at Wards 1 & 2 , Yangon General Hospital from April 1989 to November 1989, all 26 HIV positive cases were male intravenous drug abusers (ELISA and Western blot tests positive). Mean age was 29.4 years . Pulmonary tuberculosis was the commonest presentation with 6 cases followed by infective endocarditis in 4 cases and seroconversion illness in 4. Other clinical presentations included septicaemia (3), viral hepatitis (2), drug overdose (3), malaria (3) and pneumonitis (1). Overall mortality was high nearly 40 per cent even though none of the cases had features of AIDS as defined by CDS/WHO.