Legionella pneumonia and HIV: case reports and review of the literature.

AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2008 Jun;22(6):473-81

Authors: Sandkovsky U, Sandkovsky G, Suh J, Smith B, Sharp V, Polsky B

Although Legionnaires’ disease occurs more commonly in patients with some degree of immunosuppression (diabetes, chronic lung disease, end stage renal disease, cancer, etc.), it has been infrequently described in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS. Some studies suggest that pneumonia caused by Legionella tends to present with more severe clinical features and complications in the HIV-infected population. The use of antibiotic prophylaxis or the association of severe pneumonia with other pathogens may account for under diagnosis of the disease. We diagnosed five cases of Legionella pneumonia in patients with HIV infection at our institution during a 1-year period. The cases seen ranged in severity, regardless of the CD4(+) counts of the patients. Based on our observations, it seems impossible to discern whether HIV infection is an additional risk factor for Legionnaires’ disease. We describe those five cases and review the available literature.

PMID: 18462074 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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A ten-year analysis of the incidence and risk factors for acute pancreatitis requiring hospitalization in an urban HIV clinical cohort.

AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2008 Feb;22(2):113-21

Authors: Riedel DJ, Gebo KA, Moore RD, Lucas GM

To assess the incidence of and risk factors for acute pancreatitis in HIV-infected patients in the contemporary highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era, we evaluated all cases of acute pancreatitis requiring hospitalization between 1996 and 2006 in patients followed at Johns Hopkins Hospital's HIV clinic. A nested, case-control analysis was employed for initial episodes of acute pancreatitis, and conditional logistic regression was used to assess risk factors. Of 5970 patients followed for 23,460 person-years (PYs), there were 85 episodes of acute pancreatitis (incidence: 3.6 events/1000 PYs). The incidence of pancreatitis from 1996 to 2000 was 2.6 events/1000 PYs; the incidence from 2001 to 2006 was 5.1 events/1000 PYs (p = 0.0014, comparing rates in two time periods). In multivariate regression, factors associated with pancreatitis included female gender (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.96 [1.69, 5.19]; p < 0.001); stavudine use (AOR 2.19 [1.16, 4.15]; p = 0.016); aerosolized pentamidine use (OR 6.27; [1.42, 27.63]; p = 0.015); and CD4 count less than 50 cells/mm(3) (AOR 10.47 [3.33, 32.90]; p < 0.001). Race/ethnicity, HIV risk factor, HIV-1 RNA, and newer non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI)- and protease inhibitor (PI)-based HAART regimens were not associated with an increased risk of pancreatitis after adjustment for the above factors. Pancreatitis remains a significant cause of morbidity in the HIV population in the HAART era. Acute pancreatitis is associated with female gender, severe immunosuppression, and stavudine and aerosolized pentamidine usage. Of note, newer antiretrovirals, particularly atazanavir, lopinivir/ritonavir, tenofovir, abacavir, and efavirenz, were not associated with an increased risk of pancreatitis.

PMID: 18260802 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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