Oral manifestations in 100 Zimbabwean HIV/AIDS patients referred to a specialist centre.

OBJECTIVE

To document the prevalence, age, sex ratio and clinical features of oral lesions associated with HIV/AIDS among patients referred to the two largest specialist centres in Zimbabwe.

DESIGN

Prospective study.

SETTING

University Hospital.

SUBJECTS: 100 consecutive patients with oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS were interviewed and examined by Dental Surgeons and Physicians.

METHODS

Inspection and palpation of head and neck was done in all cases. Examination of the oral cavity and oropharynx with torchlight and wooden spatula was performed and lesions recorded according to WHO recording form for oral lesions possibly related to HIV infection.

RESULTS

The median age was 35 years (range 19 to 66 years). The male to female ratio was 4:1. General symptoms and signs found were: weight loss in 52, diarrhoea in 34, lymphadenopathy in 21 and Herpes zoster in 12 patients. Ninety two patients had oral lesions of some sort. These consisted of: oral ulcerations in 26, candidiasis in 22, osteomyelitis in three, necrotizing gingivitis in two and herpetic gingivostomatitis in one patient. Neoplasms recorded were: Kaposi's sarcoma in 72 patients, squamous cell carcinoma in two patients. Four other tumours not associated with HIV/AIDS were found. No hairy leukoplakia was found in this study.

CONCLUSIONS

The peak prevalence was in the age group 31 to 40 years with a male dominance of 4:1. The most frequent lesion was Kaposi's sarcoma, M:F ratio 3:1, followed by oral ulcers and candidiasis.