ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to determine the main opportunistic infections (OI) and those strongly linked to high death rate in hospital settings in Togo. It is a descriptive study conducted from June to November 2008 in 22 public and private settings of all medical specialties throughout the entire Togolese territory. Hospitalized patients with OI and HIV positive data were collected. The study was started after getting patient approval. Of 7,361 hospitalized patients, 1,764 were tested, giving a screening rate of 23.7%. We registered 714 HIV-infected patients (HIVIP), 40.5% of the patients tested. The most common OI encountered were buccal candidiasis (49.7% of HIVIP), genital candidiasis (9.1%), meningeal cryptococcosis (2.9%), bacterial infections (48.2%), cerebral toxoplasmosis (11.2%) and pulmonary tuberculosis (11.3%). OI strongly linked to a high death rate were meningeal cryptococcosis (61.9%) and cerebral toxoplasmosis (46.3%). OI constitute a major reason of hospitalization for HIVIP in Togo. This study allows a better orientation of strategies for screening and taking care of HIVIP in Togo.
