Abstract

PIP: The seroprevalence, clinical epidemiology, modes of transmission, clinical presentation in adults, pregnancy women and children, diagnosis, impact and control strategies of AIDS in Africa are covered in this review. HIV-1, the causative virus in AIDS, is epidemic in a central Africa belt from Gabon to the east coast, and from Uganda to Zimbabwe, with the highest prevalence in the lakes and highlands of Central Africa. HIV-2 causes a milder disease in Western Africa centered in Senegal. HIV infections occur primarily in young adult men aged 30-34, women aged 20-24, infants and children under 4, and a few girls. Transmission patterns vary widely depending on sexual customs in the ethnically diverse continent. Prevalence tends to be high in cities and among subgroups such as prostitutes, where promiscuity is restricted. Where female sexual permissiveness exists, seropositivity is high in women generally. Besides sexual behavior, risk factors for HIV in Africa also include uncircumcised man, oral contraception, STDs causing genital ulceration and Chlamydia infection. Transmission to neonates occurs, especially if the mother has advanced AIDS, but transmission by breast milk is uncertain. Transmission by blood transfusion is common because transfusion are up to 10 times as common in Africa as in the West, especially in obstetrics and pediatrics. Clinically, HIV infections present as herpes zoster in 95% of Africans, and commonly as slim disease: weakness, fever, chronic watery diarrhea and weight loss of unknown cause. Associated infection are candidiasis, cryptosporidiosis, isosporiasis, tuberculosis and salmonellosis. Other presenting symptoms are unusual sites of lymphadenopathy, cough and sepsis. Diagnosis can be made by the WHO clinical case definition, or be screening tests, which are now more reliable for African patients than formerly. In Africa, AIDS can cause destitution and disgrace for families, and will probable severely affect progress made national economies because of deaths of young productive adults. Strategies for control of HIV in Africa are outlined.