title: [Epidemiological and clinical features of HIV-2 infection in Dakar].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this article was to describe the epidemiological and clinical aspects of HIV-2 infection in Dakar.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study was made on 217 HIV-2 infected patients hospitalized between 1986 and 2003; the epidemiological, clinical, and paraclinical data was collected and analyzed using the Epi-Info software version 6.04.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 40 years+/-9.6 and the male to female sex ratio was 1.33. The mode of transmission was primarily heterosexual. Some risk factors (travel abroad, heterosexual multi-partners, and unprotected sexual intercourse) were more frequently observed in men while others (blood transfusion, HIV positive partners) were noted among HIV-2 infected women. The most frequent symptoms were weight loss (88%), diarrhea (77%), fever (72.4%), asthenia (70.5%), chronic cough, and dermatosis (50.7%). The main opportunistic infections were oral candidiasis (61.8%), tuberculosis (26.3%), intestinal parasitosis (20.3%). The lethality rate was 33.2% and it was correlated with a low CD4 rate. Meningoencephalitis and bacterial infections were associated with a high lethality rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The epidemiological and clinical aspects of HIV-2 infection were the same as in HIV-1 infected patients. However the lethality rate remained high among patients hospitalized with a low CD4 cell count. Early HIV testing and improving the diagnostic approach for opportunistic infections remains a high priority.
authors.affiliation: Service des maladies infectieuses, CHU de Fann, BP 5035, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diouf
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seydi
authors.forename: B-M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Diop
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soumaré
authors.forename: C-T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Ndour
authors.forename: N-M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Manga
authors.forename: N-M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Dia Badiane
authors.forename: S-A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Diop
authors.forename: P-S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015498:HIV-2; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012675:Senegal / Q000453:epidemiology