Clinical patterns of sexually transmitted diseases in human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals in a tertiary care center in South India

BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) synergize to aggravate the associated morbidity of each other in the human body. AIMS: The aim was to study the pattern of presentations of STDs in patients with HIV. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted by selecting 100 consecutive cases of HIV infection with symptoms suggestive of co-existing STD attending the outpatient department in a tertiary care center in south India. RESULTS: Most of the patients belonged to the age group of 26–30 years, with a slight male preponderance. Genital ulcer was the predominant presenting complaint (60%), followed by dysuria (32%) and genital growth (29%). Genital ulcer was the most common lesion (56%), followed by other genital lesions (37%) and extragenital lesions (18%). Among the investigations, Tzanck smear was most commonly seen positive (62.3% of 61 patients), followed by positive potassium hydroxide mount and Venereal Disease Research Laboratory. About 35.5% of the male patients and 60.53% of the female patients had multiple diagnoses. In males, herpes genitalis (29.76%) was the most common STD, followed by condyloma accuminata (23.08%). In females, candidal vulvovaginitis (28.12%) was the most common STD, followed by herpes genitalis (23.43%). CONCLUSION: Our study found genital ulcer as the most common symptom and sign of STD in HIV-infected patients. Herpes genitalis was the most common STD among males and candidal vulvovaginitis was the most common STD among females.