Clinical profile of AIDS in India: a review of 61 cases.

Among 61 patients with AIDS seen in our hospital from February 1986 to June 1992, 38 (62%) had significant weight loss, 34 (56%) had fever of more than a month and 19 (31%) had chronic diarrhoea; 43 (70%) patients had at least one of the above symptoms. Tuberculosis diagnosed in 32 (52%) patients was the commonest secondary infection: 10 had only pulmonary, 15 had pulmonary and extrapulmonary and 7 only extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Secondary infections commonly found in the general population, predominantly with pathogenic bacteria were found in 27 (44%) patients, 45 (74%) patients had opportunistic infections such as oropharyngeal candidiasis 25 (41%) cryptococcal meningitis 4 (7%), recurrent zoster 1 (1.6%). Two (3.3%) patients had interstitial pneumonitis of unknown aetiology. One (1.6%) patient each had oral hairy leukoplakia or immunoblastic lymphoma. Kaposi's sarcoma was not seen in any patient. At the time of writing this, 33 (54%) patients have died; the mean duration from diagnosis of AIDS to death was 4.5 months.