HIV Flashcards
Incidence of HIV?
50% women
80% of reproductive-age
Where is HIV most prevalent?
2/3rds live in sub-Saharan Africa
- more than 3/4 of all women infected live in sub-saharan Africa
What are the rates of MTCT in the UK vs sub-saharan Africa?
<0.3% - UK
- 0.14% in those w/ suppressed
viral loads
45% - sub-saharan Africa
What percentage of HIV is acquired thru heterosexual contact?
50%
Prevalence of HIV in pregnancy in sub-saharan Africa?
5.3%
Proportion of women on cART in pregnancy? (UK)
60%
Clinical features of acute, primary HIV infection
- may be asymptomatic
- fever, fatigue, lymphadenopathy or
rash- occurs 2 weeks - 3 months post
exposure
- occurs 2 weeks - 3 months post
Clinically latent phase
- lasts up to and beyond 10yrs (w/o
drug therapy)
- may cause (ALT):
1. Anaemia
2. Lymphopenia
3. Thrombocytopenia
Symptomatic disease includes:
- persistent generalized lymphadenopathy
- weight loss
- diarrhea
- neurological disease (encephalopathy and neuropathy)
- opportunistic infections: 4C, 2M, P
- candidiasis
- cerebral toxoplasmosis
- CMV retinitis
- cryptococcocus
- mycobacterium tuberculosis
- mycobacterium
avium-intracellulare
- pneumocystis pneumonia
- secondary cancers
- Non-Hodgkins lymphoma
- Kaposi’s sarcoma
Clinical features of acute, primary HIV infection
- may be asymptomatic
- fever, fatigue, lymphadenopathy or
rash- occurs 2 weeks - 3 months post
exposure
- occurs 2 weeks - 3 months post
Clinically latent phase
- lasts up to and beyond 10yrs (w/o
drug therapy)
- may cause:
1. thrombocytopenia
- Anaemia
- lymphopenia
What are the principal routes of HIV transmission?
3 routes:
1. Sexual: unprotected anal/
vaginal intercourse
2. Parenteral/blood-borne:
-Sharing of needles
-blood transfusions
3. Perinatal/Vertical transmission:
-ante/intra/postpartum
How can early HIV infection be identified?
High viral load
What is HIV?
HIv is an RNA retrovirus that mainly targets the CD4+ T helper cells, gradually diminishing their population.
- Loss of these cells reduces cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity, leading to the development of opportunistic infections and more rapid replication of HIV.
The hallmark of infection is progressive decline of CD4+ lymphocyte count - which falls by 60cells/mm3/year without treatment.
What does CD4 count indicate?
Current degreee of immunosuppression
What does viral load indicate?
It is the main predictor of the SPEED of disease progression
How long does transplacentally transferred maternal antibodies persist in the fetal circulation post delivery? What is the significance of this?
Up to 18 months
Hence the true HIV status is difficult to determine without the use of PCR .
When is screening for HIV offered?
At booking.
If mother refuses and is deemed high risk, offer again at 28 weeks.
How are high risk for HIV infection?
- Women from sub-saharan africa
- Iv drug users
- Sex workers
- Partners of:
- any of the above individuals OR
- homo/bisexual males
Advantages of HIV screening?
- Early treatment of mothers to improve their long term outcome (e.g. prevention of development of AIDS and opportunistic infections)
- Intervention to prevent MTCT
- Knowledge of HIV status to protect sexual partners