A 4-YEAR COHORT STUDY OF HIV-SEROPOSITIVE ETHIOPIAN INFANTS AND CHILDREN - CLINICAL COURSE AND DISEASE PATTERNS

Sixty-two HIV positive infants who were admitted to the Missionaries o f Charity Orphanage in Addis Ababa were followed from July 25, 1991 to July 30, 1995 for a total period of 4 years. Regular clinical examina tion and treatment by a paediatrician was being offered to these infan ts in addition to monitoring of their HIV serostatus every three month s until the age of 18 months and every year after that. Among those ag ed above 18 months, 14 children were HIV sero-positive and alive and 4 children were HIV sero-positive but died. Thirty-three children had s ere-reverted to negative. The mother-to-child transmission was crudely estimated at 29% to 47%. Among the clinical signs, generalized lympha denopathy, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, wasting, stunting and delayed m otor development were found more commonly in the definitely HIV positi ve children. Upper respiratory tract infections, acute diarrhoea, pneu monia, pyogenic skin infections, sepsis and candidal infections were t he commonest causes of illness. Comparison of the HIV positive with th e HIV negative cases Indicates that the risk is higher for the indefin itely HIV positive group for episodes of acute diarrhoea, pneumonia, s epsis and candidal infections.