CLINICAL-FEATURES AND HIV PROGRESSION AS OBSERVED LONGITUDINALLY IN ACOHORT OF INJECTING DRUG-USERS IN MANIPUR

Study on a cohort of injecting drug users (n = 76) was initiated in Ju ne, 1994 with the objective of documenting the clinical presentation o f HIV and its progression with time. The participation in the study wa s voluntary. An informed consent was taken from the subjects before th ey were enrolled in the study. The subjects were followed up every 45 days for clinical and laboratory examination and analysis made after 2 7 months of the study. The study had a follow-up rate of 65 per cent. The commonest feature observed in stage I (n = 47) was persistent gene ralized lymphadenopathy (83%), in stage II (n = 40) was body weight lo ss < 10 per cent (37.5%), in stage III (n = 32) was pulmonary tubercul osis (56.3%) and in stage IV (n = 9) was cryptosporidial diarrhoea > 1 month (3 cases). Kaposi's sarcoma was detected in one subject. The me dian time taken for conversion from the date of seroconversion to stag e III of HIV infection was observed to be 3.15 yr (95% CI = 2.98-3.58 yr). The rate of HIV progression seems to be significantly faster than that observed in industrialized countries. Age is a cofactor in the r ate of progression of HIV. Tuberculosis is the commonest opportunistic infection.