MUCOCUTANEOUS DISEASES IN DRUG-ADDICTS WITH OR WITHOUT HIV-INFECTION - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

A case-control study was performed to evaluate the prevalence of mucoc utaneous diseases in 106 male drug addicts (age 21-38 years) with or w ithout HIV infection. A mucocutaneous disease was recorded in ten out of 64 HIV-negative and in 20 of 42 HIV-positive patients (OR = 4.9; p < 0.01). Some mucocutaneous diseases were present in similar proportio ns in both groups (i. e. fungal skin lesions), while others were typic ally present only in HIV-positive patients. Stratification for possibl e confounding factors, such as years of drug addiction and number of s exual partners, confirmed that HIV infection is the main risk factor f or mucocutaneous disease. Stratification according to the number of CD 4-positive cells showed that the more advanced the HIV disease, the mo re frequently mucocutaneous disease was present (p = 0.02). The study demonstrates that many, but not all, mucocutaneous diseases are associ ated with HIV infection.