Clinicopathological Features of Pruritic Papular Eruption of HIV Patients seen in Benin-City, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Pruritic papular eruption (PPE) is a frequent cause of substantial morbidity in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients in Nigeria. This skin condition remains the most common cutaneous manifestation in HIV-infected patients and it is more prevalent in developing countries.

AIMS

To describe the clinical and pathologic features of PPE in our patients, and compare with those seen in other parts of the world.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Specimen collection, analysis and write-up of the study lasted 18 months (January 2015 to June 2016) after ethical approval of the proposal. The study design was a cross-sectional descriptive study of confirmed HIV-infected patients with clinically active PPE lesions presenting at the Dermatology outpatient clinic, the HIV/ART clinic, and those admitted as in-patients in the medical wards of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin. Data generated from the study were entered into and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.

RESULTS

Only 106 patients were histologically confirmed to be PPE and subsequently recruited for the study. The pattern of distribution of PPE-HIV suggested that the rash has a predilection for exposed parts of the body. The body regions most significantly affected were lateral surface of lower limb, upper limb extensor surface, dorsal surface of foot and dorsal surface of hand. The most common secondary changes observed among the patients were excoriated papules, post-inflammatory hyper- and hypopigmentation, scarring, lichenification.

CONCLUSION

Lesions of pruritic papular eruptions (PPE) of HIV in this study were distributed predominantly on the exposed parts of the body especially the upper and lower limbs.