HIV infection: oral lesions, CD4(+) cell count and viral load in an Italian study population

The aims of this study were to assess types and prevalence of HIV-related o ral lesions and to correlate these lesions to the main laboratory parameter s such as CD4(+) cell count and plasma HIV-RNA. The study population consis ted of 104 consecutive HIV+ patients living in Sicily (M=67, 64.4%; F=37, 3 5.6%; median age=35 years). CD4(+) cell count and viral load were measured within 24 h of oral examination. Data were managed and analysed by Epi-Info 6.0. HIV-related oral lesions, as classified by the EC-Clearinghouse, were diagnosed in 35.6% of patients: these were of the Strongly Associated (SA) type in 22.1%, the Less Common Associated (LCA) type in 12.5%, and the Les ions Seen in HIV Infection (LS) type in 3.8%. CD4(+) cell counts <200 x 10( 6)/1 were significantly associated only with SA lesions (P=0.03); median va lues of CD4(+) cell count were also significantly correlated (P=0.02). Vira l load, expressed both by median values of copies/ml (P=0.0001) and log(10) copies/ml (P=0.0003), was significantly associated only with SA lesions. T reatment failure was significantly correlated to SA lesions (P=0.04). Besid es the confirmed correlation with CD4 depletion, the strong association wit h a high level of viral load could make SA oral lesions a useful tool for i dentifying progression of HIV infection and could be of value in monitoring antiretroviral therapy.