Differential Clinical Outcome of Dengue Infection among Patients with and without HIV Infection: A Matched Case–Control Study

Clinical characteristics and outcome among dengue patients with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection remain elusive. A total of 10 dengue virus (DENV)-HIV Chinese patients were compared with 40 Chinese dengue patients without HIV, who were matched for age, gender, type of care received, methods, and year of dengue diagnosis from 2005 to 2008. Univariate and multivariate conditional logistics regression were applied. DENV-HIV patients were significantly associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) 2009 severe dengue (conditional odds ratio [COR] = 5.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-32.64) but not with the WHO 1997 dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (COR = 0.40; 95% CI = 0.09-1.71). This is mainly due to severe plasma leakage and the lack of hemorrhagic manifestations. Hospitalization duration was longer for DENV-HIV patients (10.5 days; interquartile range [IQR] = 5.5-26.3 days) compared with dengue patients (5 days; IQR = 4-6 days). There were no significant differences in presentation of clinical warning signs and symptoms at admission and during hospitalization, except for rash (adjusted COR [ACOR] = 0.06; 95% CI = 0.03-0.92). DENV-HIV patients were associated with higher pulse rate (ACOR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.02-1.25), eosinophils proportion (ACOR = 3.07; 95% CI = 1.12-8.41) and lower hematocrit level (ACOR = 0.79; 95% CI = 0.64-0.98) compared with dengue patients. Even though DENV-HIV patients may present similarly to dengue patients, they may be more likely to have severe dengue outcome. Hence, close monitoring of DENV-HIV patients is highly recommended as part of dengue clinical care and management.