Incidence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in HIV seropositive individuals

Abstract

Background: Viral agents especially retroviruses play either an aetiologic or contributory role in autoimmune diseases.
Aim: To determine the rate of occurrence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in already confirmed HIV positive individuals.
Methods: Subjects comprised of already diagnosed patients with HIV and controls who were HIV Seronegative individuals. Blood samples were collected from individuals of different ethnic background cutting across various occupations. Buffy coat smears were made, allowed to dry and stained by Leishman stain to examine for SLE cells.
Results: This study showed an overall positivity rate of 6.25% with males having 0% while that for females was 6.25%. The age group of 30-39 years had a 11.11% positive case of SLE when compared to the age variation of 20-29 and 40-49 years, which had 0% positivity. Patients who are on high active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) had a 9.52% positive case of SLE when compared to those not undergoing HAART, which had 1.69% positive case of SLE. Patients who had undergone blood transfusion had a 6.66% positive case of SLE while those who had not had any blood transfusion had 3.08% positivity.
Conclusion: HIV seropositive patients are at risk of autoimmune diseases such as SLE.