title: Clinical profile of HIV infected patients attending a HIV referral clinic in Pune, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has infected several million individuals in India. Various interventions have been implemented for early detection and prevention of transmission of HIV infection. This has progressively changed the clinical profile of HIV infected individuals and this study documents the clinical presentation of individuals positive for HIV in 2010, in Pune, Maharashtra, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study included subjects who had come to the HIV referral clinic for HIV testing from January to December 2010. Children as well as individuals with indeterminate HIV result were excluded from the study, and data for 1546 subjects were finally analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The HIV positivity rate among all referred cases for the year 2010 was 35 per cent (male 55% and females 45%). The median age (Q1, Q3) was 31 (25.75, 39) yr. The median CD4 cell count for all HIV infected individuals (whose CD4 count was available n=345) was 241 cells/µl and for asymptomatic HIV infected individuals was 319 cells/µl. There were 673 (43.5%) symptomatic and 873 (56.5%) asymptomatic participants. Fever, breathlessness, cough with expectoration, weight loss, loss of appetite, generalized weakness, pallor and lymphadenopathy (axillary and cervical) were found to be associated (P<0.001) with HIV positivity. On multivariate analysis, history of Herpes zoster [AOR 11.314 (6.111-20.949)] and TB [AOR 11.214 (6.111-20.949)] was associated with HIV positivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Signs and symptoms associated with HIV positivity observed in this study can be used by health care providers to detect HIV infection early. Moreover, similar to HIV testing in patients with tuberculosis, strategies can be developed for considering Herpes zoster as a predictor of HIV infection.
authors.forename: Megha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antwal
authors.forename: Rohan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gurjar
authors.forename: Shweta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chidrawar
authors.forename: Jyoti
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pawar
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gaikwad
authors.forename: Narayan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Panchal
authors.forename: Varsha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kale
authors.forename: Madhuri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thakar
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Risbud
authors.affiliation: National AIDS Research Institute (ICMR), Pune, India.
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tripathy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019540:Area Under Curve; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060085:Coinfection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000150:complications*