Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among diarrhea, CD4+ cell counts and opportunistic protozoa in HIV-infected patients in North India. In a retrospective study, blood and stool samples of 200 HIV-infected patients from March 2001 until 2003, submitted to the AIDS division of National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), were analyzed. Each patient was examined for opportunistic protozoa, HIV-1 status and CD4+ cell counts, and screened for diarrheal symptoms. The rate of diarrhea was 38% in the stool examination. In HIV-infected patients in the groups CD4+ > 500 cells/μL, 200 cells/μL < CD4+ < 500 cells/μL and in the AIDS patients CD4+ < 200 cells/μL, diarrhea was 14.7, 29.8 and 56.1%, respectively. It is clear that the diarrhea in the AIDS patients was significant compared with the two former groups (P < 0.0005). In the AIDS patients CD4+ < 200 cells/μL with diarrhea, Cryptosporidium infection was, at 56.5%, the highest and statistically significant compared with the other parasites (P = 0.037). Microsporidium was detected in 30.4% of the AIDS patients. Diarrhea was common and most strongly associated in patients with low CD4+ cell counts. The data stress the importance of opportunistic protozoa in the HIV-infected patients, and that opportunistic protozoa should be expected in HIV-infected patients with low CD4+ and diarrhea.
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Acknowledgments
I thank Dr. S. Lal Director NICD for providing all the facilities to carry out this work and my sincere thanks are extended to Dr. S. Faghihzadeh vice chancellor of Shahed University Tehran Iran and Dr. G. Babaee, Head department of Biostatistics Medical Faculty, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran Iran, for helping in the computer analysis.
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Sadraei, J., Rizvi, M.A. & Baveja, U.K. Diarrhea, CD4+ cell counts and opportunistic protozoa in Indian HIV-infected patients. Parasitol Res 97, 270–273 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-1422-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-1422-7