Urban legends series: oral manifestations of HIV infection

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

'...lack of evidence that HIV-OLs (HIV oral lesions) may represent manifestations of IRIS' (immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome).

Main

Patton LL, Ramirez-Amador V et al. Oral Dis 2013; 19: 533–550

Of the four questions asked by the authors in this narrative review, only two will be summarised in this abstract. It has been suggested that HIV-OLs such as oral candidiasis and oral hairy leukoplakia can be used as a straightforward screen for HIV infection. But those investigators who made such a claim were not blinded as to the patients' HIV status. The conclusion of Robinson made over a decade ago that 'HIV-OLs alone are poor predictors for HIV infection' has not changed. Of course, there are several laboratory tests for HIV infection with both high sensitivity and specificity. Different HAART regimens have reduced the frequency of HIV-OLs, although this may not apply to HPV-OLs. There is a lack of evidence that HIV-OLs may signal IRIS.