MicrobiologyBytes

Nearly half of adolescents admitted to two public hospitals in Zimbabwe are HIV positive according to a new paper in PLoS Medicine. This study examines the causes of unselected acute hospitalization in adolescents, and serves to highlight the growing crisis of HIV acquired at birth in teenagers and young adults in the developing world. Each 10-18 year old participant completed a questionnaire about themselves and their health and underwent standard investigations, including HIV testing. Nearly half of participants were HIV positive; they were more likely to be stunted, to have pubertal delay, and to be maternal orphans or have an HIV-infected mother than HIV-negative adolescents. 69% of HIV-positive participants were admitted to hospital because of infections such as tuberculosis or pneumonia whereas only 19% of the HIV-negative participants were admitted for infections. 22% of the HIV-positive participants died while in hospital compared to only 7% of the HIV-negative participants.

Few studies have addressed the prevalence of perinatally-acquired HIV in older children and adolescence, perhaps because it was thought that children infected at birth were unlikely to survive beyond 5 years of age. Additionally, while the researchers assessed causes of hospitalization such as infectious disease or chronic underlying disease, they did not assess underlying mental health conditions. In the developed world, the most common reasons for psychiatric hospitalization for HIV-infected children were for depression or behavioral disorders and calls for the impact of death and chronic ill health of caregivers or siblings on HIV-infected adolescents in the developing world require investigation.

Causes of Acute Hospitalization in Adolescence: Burden and Spectrum of HIV Related Morbidity in a Country with an Early-Onset and Severe HIV Epidemic: A Prospective Survey. 2010 PLoS Med 7(2): e1000178

Related:

• What do we really know about the spread of AIDS in Africa?
• GSK to provide cheap drugs to the developing world
• Global Fund grants Zimbabwe $37.9m to fight AIDS
• HIV treatment reduces death rates in Africa

Tags: Africa, Biology, Health, HIV/AIDS, Medicine, Microbiology, Science, Virology, virus, Zimbabwe

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