Author(s)

Arlindo Schiesari Jr.¹, Kátia Jaira Galisteu², Luciana Ventura Cardoso², Vanessa Maria Brogio Schiesari³, Adriana Antônia da Cruz Furini⁴, Andrea Regina Baptista Rossit⁵, Ricardo Luiz Dantas Machado^2*

¹Integrated College Padre Albino, Catanduva, Brazil.
²Department of Dermatology, Parasitic and Infectious Diseases, Medicine School in São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto, Brazil.
³STD/AIDS Municipal Program, Catanduva, Brazil.
⁴Rio Preto University Center, São José do Rio Preto, Brazil.
⁵Biomedical Institute, Microbiology and Parasitical Diseases from Fluminense Federal University, Niteroi, Brazil.

Objective: Hereby we present the epidemiological and clinical profile of HIV-infected population before and during the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era from a tertiary care hospital in the Southeastern region of Brazil. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out, this involved the analysis of the medi-cal records of patients diagnosed with HIV-1/AIDS admitted to Hospital Escola Emílio Carlos, located in the munici-pality of Catanduva, State of S?o Paulo, Brazil. Results: In both pre-HAART and HAART periods, HIV-1 infection was more prevalent in men. Heterosexuality and secondary education were associated with AIDS in the HAART period. Statistically significant association was only observed for co-infection with HIV-1/Hepatitis C in the pre-HAART era and the number of patients with opportunistic infection (OI) was lower in the HAART period. Among all OI it is worth mentioning pulmonary pneumocystosis, which despite being common in two periods, its occurrence was considerably greater in the pre-HAART era. Concerning the distribution of OIs according to the HIV-1 viral load and serial count of T CD4⁺ lymphocytes, a significant association was observed. The association between the number of deaths by OIs and death in the 1st year of diagnosis in the HAART treatment was significant. Conclusions: The clinical and epidemiological profile of a specialized HIV-1/AIDS center in Catanduva, Southeastern Brazilian region, is consistent with the epidemiology of AIDS in the country.

HIV-Infected Population; Antiretroviral Therapy Highly Active; Brazil

A. Schiesari Jr., K. Galisteu, L. Cardoso, V. Schiesari, A. Furini, A. Rossit and R. Machado, "Epidemiological Patterns of AIDS in a Reference Center from Catanduva, São Paulo State, Brazil," Open Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2012, pp. 47-53. doi: 10.4236/ojmm.2012.23007.