ENT manifestations in HIV infected patients in PIMS Islamabad.

INTRODUCTION HIV is a global pandemic with estimation of 38 million active cases around the world according to WHO HIV data and statistics 2019. Despite of advancement in medical field the disease has not been tamed uptil now. In this modern era HIV is still considered a taboo in Pakistan, people are reluctant about disclosure of disease, screening of their partners and its treatment which is due to lack of awareness and socio-economic constraints. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to see the incidence of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) manifestations in HIV infected people presented in tertiary care hospital of Islamabad. MATERIAL AND METHOD A one-year observational cross-sectional study conducted in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad between January 2019 to December 2019. All the HIV infected patients who presented with ear, nose and throat manifestations were recruited in the study. Detailed history and examination were conducted after taking written consent. Analysis included calculations of mean values of quantitative association between ENT symptoms and demographic characteristics. Statistical analysis was estimated using either Chi-square test or t-test.   RESULTS Majority of the patients presented with Otological manifestation of which the most common was chronic suppurative otitis media (14.28%). Most common Rhinological/Oropharyngeal manifestation included epistaxis (12.24%) and oral candidiasis (8.16%) respectively. Among neck manifestations cervical lymph adenopathy (18.16%) showed the highest percentage. CONCLUSION The study shows a local trend of ENT manifestation in which the patient presented in later stage (WHO III) which resembled to the studies carried out in other developing countries showing ineffectiveness of current national HIV/AIDS programme.