Comprehensive classification of symptoms and signs reported among 218 patients with acute HIV-1 infection

Acute HIV-1 illness presents a wide range of clinical manifestations. We as sessed a classification and data reduction of clinical features among 218 p atients with acute HIV-I infection enrolled in four prospective seroinciden ce studies. Factor analysis allows the definition of eight factors based on groups of symptoms and signs: gastrointestinal transit disturbances, weigh t loss/abdominal pain, lymphadenopathy, myalgia/arthralgia, neurologic feat ures, constitutional and mucocutaneous features, oral candidiasis, and anor exia/pharyngitis. These groups reflected the main target systems involved a t the time of acute HIV-1 disease. Grouping of symptoms and signs based on groups of patients is potentially more informative than observations made o n individual patients. It might facilitate diagnosis, suggest pathogenic me chanisms and reduce the number of variables for characterizing acute HIV-1 illness.