Clinical survey of Leishmania/HIV co-infection in Catania, Italy: the impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

The clinical and parasitological features of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) were investigated, retrospectively, in 27 HIV-infected patients who attended the out-patient clinic of Catania University's Department of Infectious Diseases between 1990 and 1998. The aim was to evaluate the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic and prognostic characteristics of the co-infection, to determine if there were any interactions between the two infections, and to see if the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) had any impact on the leishmaniasis. The most dramatic observation was a marked, HAART-attributable reduction in the annual incidence of VL relapses among the patients.