[Clinical spectrum of HIV infection and classification systems].

Diseases spectrum caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) manifests with a wide range of clinical symptoms, due to the involvement of different organs and systems. Patients infected with HIV may present with a spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe immunodeficiency associated with different secondary infections, tumors, or other conditions. Since 1981 when the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was recognized and the causative agent discovered thereafter, various systems have been proposed to classify manifestations of HIV infection and AIDS definition has bean revised several times. The evolution of classification systems for HIV infection and revision of case definitions for AIDS have closely followed current knowledge of biologic features of this infection, primarily related to its natural hystory and predictive value of immunologic parametres. Various classification systems for HIV infection, which have been widely used in clinical practice will be discussed in this review.