Tropical Medicine & Surgery

Abstract

Haematological Profile of HIV Infected Patients with Opportunistic Respiratory Mycoses in Relation to Immune Status–A Hospital Based Cohort from Calabar, Nigeria

Ofonime M Ogba, Lydia N Abia-Bassey, James Epoke, Baki I Mandor, Josephine Akpotuzor, Godwin Iwatt and Ikwo Ibanga

 Objectives: To study the spectrum of hematological manifestations and evaluate the relationship between various hematological manifestations and CD4 cell count among opportunistic respiratory mycoses positive adult HIV patients in Calabar, Nigeria. Materials and methods: The hematological and mycological profiles of the 272 HIV infected patients with respiratory symptoms attending the Anti Retroviral (ARV) and Infectious disease clinics in Calabar, from May 2009 to July 2010 were recorded. The relationship between hematological manifestations and CD4 counts among the respiratory mycoses positive subjects were analyzed. Results: The most common haematological abnormality was anaemia with 129(47.2%) subjects affected. Also among the mycoses positive subjects’ anaemia was more prevalent in females 32(43.8%) than males 26(46.4%), but there was no relationship between mycoses and anaemia among subjects (X2=4.3, p=0.6). All subjects infected with fungal pathogens had CD4 counts below 200 cells/μl of blood. Conclusion: Subjects with mycoses are more likely to develop haematological abnormalities like anaemia, neutropenia and lymphopenia due to further suppression of their immune status. This suggests that respiratory mycoses may affect haematological parameters of patients especially the lymphocytes and CD4 counts.