Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research

Opportunistic Infections among HIV/AIDS Patients taking Anti-Retroviral Therapy at Tertiary Care Hospital in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Mihiretu Alemayehu, Yilma Yisehak, Worku Alaro and Bereket Alemayehu

Introduction: Opportunistic infections, which mostly manifest at advanced stage of HIV/AIDS, are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality despite the existence of prevention and treatment modalities. People with advanced HIV infection are vulnerable to opportunistic infections and malignancies because of the opportunity offered by a weakened immune system. Since the types of opportunistic infections vary from region to region, for the strategies of morbidity and mortality to be reduced, identification of opportunistic infections, their frequency and distribution plays significant role. Methodology: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from August - September, 2016 in Wolaita Sodo teaching and referral hospital, Southern Ethiopia, among HIV/AIDS patients who were taking ante-retroviral therapy with in the past five years preceding the survey. A total of 377 study participants were selected through systematic sampling technique and a pre-tested checklist was used to collect data from clinical records of study subjects. The data was entered and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Result: The overall magnitude of opportunistic infections was 45.3%. Only 6.9% of them had co-infections. The most prevalent opportunistic infection was oral candidiasis (17.7%), followed by herpes zoster (15.5%) and pulmonary tuberculosis (11.9%). The cumulative prevalence of all forms of tuberculosis, (19.4%), was identified as the leading opportunistic infection. Cryptoccocal meningitis (2.8%), cryptosporidiosis (2.5%) and recurrent mycosis (1.4%) were the least commonly observed opportunistic infections. AIDS defining illnesses such as CNS toxoplasmosis, Cryptoccocal meningitis, pneumocystis carini pneumonea and cryptosporidiosis with diarrhea, which commonly manifest during the end stage of HIV/AIDS, cumulatively account for 14.6% of opportunistic infections. Conclusion: A high prevalence of opportunistic infection was identified among HIV/AIDS patients taking antiretroviral therapy. This indicates that the threatening burden of opportunistic infections couldn’t be averted by sole provision of ante-retroviral therapy. Therefore, in order to reduce the magnitude of the diseases, strategies beyond providing ante-retroviral therapy are required. In addition, researchers and other stake holders have to conduct longitudinal studies in order to identify risk factors for respective opportunistic infections.