CLINICAL-FEATURES OF INFLAMMATORY DERMATOSES IN HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 DISEASE AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH WALTER-REED STAGE

Background: As part of a military study of the natural history of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease, all patients entered in the study were examined for cutaneous changes associated with HIV-1 infection. Objective: Our purpose was to characterize and record the types of inflammatory dermatoses in a large number of HIV-1-infected patients to determine whether there was a correlation with the stage of disease. Methods: The clinical findings in each case were compared with the results of cultures and biopsy specimens and correlated with Walter Reed stage. Results: Most of the inflammatory dermatoses were maculopapular eruptions often with prominent follicular involvement, and in some there was a lichenoid component. With increasing Walter Reed stage, many eruptions become papulosquamous, some with psoriasiform scale and some with a hypertrophic lichenoid appearance. Conclusion: Although most of the inflammatory eruptions were nonspecific clinically, most cases showed features resembling those in graft-versus-host disease.