PRURIGO IN TROPICAL AREA - RELEVANCE OF I TS ASSOCIATION WITH HIV-INFECTION

The term prurigo applies to a classic chronic skin disease of children (P. strophulus) which is becoming found very seldom in developed coun tries, but remains extraordinarily prevalent in tropical areas. This s triking geographical distribution relies on its ectoparasitic origin. Some peculiar aspects of prurigo, observed in French Guyana (South Ame rica), are reported. The original point is a new aspect of adult aquir ed prurigo, associated with HIV infection, which appears to be one of the features caracteristic of tropical AIDS. This HIV associated pruri go (HAP) is the revelating event, in as high as 20 % of HIV infected p eople, significantly those with less than 200 CD4 cells. HAP appears a s a marker of HIV infection with poor sensitivity, but much higher spe cificity (92 %), with no correlation with aquisition's risk factors. J ust like infantile prurigo, HAP can be considered an arthropod bite re action which seems to be enhanced in HIV infected people living in tro pical environment.