Human Immunodeficiency Virus Can Affect the Semiology of Osteoarticular Infections?

Objective: To compare the epidemiological, the clinical and the paraclinical profile of osteoarticular infections in HIV-positive patients and in HIV-negative patients. Patients and Methods: patients with Osteoarticular infections recognized on the basis of radioclinical and epidemiological arguments were included in this study. The comparison that was based on the existence or was not of HIV infection focused on various clinical and biological components. Of these 15,800 rheumatic patients admitted in 18 years, 461 have suffered from Osteoarticular infection (2.9%). The 461 patient objects of this study were divided into 235 cases of infectious arthritis including 38 cases of co-infection with HIV and 225 cases of infectious spondylodiscitis including 21 cases of HIV coinfection. Results: There were 246 women (53.4%) and 215 men (46.4%) with a sex ratio of 1.1. The mean age was 37.7 ± 13.6 years. The data comparison of HIV-negative patients and HIV-positive patients had not shown statistically significant difference in the infectious spondylodiscitis group and in the group of infectious arthritis patients. Only fever was statistically significant in both groups and weight loss in the group of infectious arthritis (p < 0.001). Conclusion: HIV seems not to particularly influence the semiological profile of Osteoarticular infections in Lomé.