Reviewing the oral pigmented lesions of human immunodeficiency virus with emphasis on the effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome a disease with high mortality rates is caused by the well-known human immunodeficiency virus. The disease is characterized by several opportunistic infections owing to the decreased CD4 lymphocyte counts. Oral manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus are vital as they are one of the early manifestations of the disease. Also, they serve as prognostic markers as they correlate with the CD4 lymphocyte counts of the affected individuals. Human immunodeficiency virus is not only common in the adult population but also can affect pediatric patients through vertical transmission. The ini-tial therapeutic strategy for the management of the virus was only the prevention of opportunistic infections. Later in the mid-1990s, antiretroviral therapy was introduced but there was no significant improvement in prognosis. After the ad-vent of combination therapy or the use of three antiretrovi-ral drugs also known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, there has been a marked reduction in human immunodefi-ciency virus-associated mortality rates. The highly active an-tiretroviral therapy has several effects on the oral manifes-tations of the human immunodeficiency virus. The present paper aims to review the oral pigmented lesions associated with human immunodeficiency virus with an emphasis on the effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.