Hematological particularities and co-infections in injected drug users with AIDS

• Main Authors: Denise Menezes Brunetta, Gil Cunha De Santis, Fernando Crivelenti Vilar, Renata Amorim Brandão, Renata Zomer de Albernaz Muniz, Geovana Momo Nogueira de Lima, Manuela Emiliana Amorelli-Chacel, Dimas Tadeu Covas, Alcyone Artioli Machado
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2013-11-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1413867013001888

HIV patients infected through injected drug use have poorer prognosis than other groups. We evaluated the hematological alterations and rates of co-infections in injected drug use patients with AIDS. Injected drug use patients were younger, predominantly of male gender, and presented lower CD4, total lymphocyte, and platelet counts, but not neutrophil count, than control group. Injected drug use patients had a higher rate of hepatitis C and mycobacteria infection. Furthermore, all injected drug use patients with hemoglobin <10.0 g dL−1 and lymphocyte <1000 μL−1 had CD4 count lower than 100 μL−1. In conclusion, HIV-infected injected drug use patients constitute a special group of patients, and hemoglobin concentration and lymphocyte count can be used as surrogate markers for disease severity. Keywords: AIDS, Injected drug use, Anemia, HCV, Mycobacteria