Author: Mark Mascolini
28 July 2010
More than 1 in 10 people evaluated for suspected malaria at 7 rural Ugandan health centers had HIV infection, and 1% had acute HIV infection.
Acute fever possibly signaling malaria accounts for 30% to 50% of outpatient visits at sub-Saharan health clinics. People with undiagnosed HIV infection may have similar signs and symptoms when they first seek care. To determine HIV rates in people seeking care for suspected malaria, researchers studied 2893 people 13 years old or older who came to seven government health centers in rural Uganda and got tested for HIV.
The investigators defined acute HIV infection as being HIV-1 RNA positive with a negative or indeterminate HIV-1 western blot pattern. They defined early HIV infection as being HIV-1 RNA positive with a positive western blot pattern, but with a BED-corrected optical density of below 0.8.
Of the 2893 people tested for HIV, 324 (11.2%) had results indicating HIV infection. There were 30 people (1.0% of 2893) with acute HIV infection, 56 (1.9%) with early HIV infection, and 238 (8.2%) with established HIV infection. Acute HIV infection was more common in areas with high HIV prevalence but lower malaria rates.
The researchers believe their findings “highlight a major opportunity for expanding recognition of acute and early HIV infection in Africa.”
Source: Lisa M. Bebell, Christopher D. Pilcher, Grant Dorsey, Diane Havlir, Moses R. Kamya, Michael P. Busch, Joan Dunn Williams, Charles T. Nugent, Christopher Bentsen, Philip J. Rosenthal, Edwin D. Charlebois. Acute HIV-1 infection is highly prevalent in Ugandan adults with suspected malaria. AIDS. 2010; 24: 1945-1952.
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