Pathognomic lesion in HIV is: September 2011

Ans. B : Oral leukoplakia Oral hairy leukoplakia is viually pathognomic of HIV disease in the context of HIV risk factors. AIDS and HIV Infection with HIV-1 is associated with a progressive decrease of the CD4+ T cell count and an increase in viral load, the level of HIV in the blood. The stage of infection can be determined by measuring the patient's CD4+ T cell count and viral load. The stages of HIV infection are acute infection (also known as primary infection), latency and AIDS. Acute infection lasts for several weeks and may include symptoms such as fever, lymphadenopathy, pharyngitis, rash, myalgia, malaise, and mouth and esophageal sores. The latency stage involves few or no symptoms and can last anywhere from two weeks to twenty years or more, depending on the individual. AIDS, the final stage of HIV infection, is defined by low CD4+ T cell counts (fewer than 200 per microliter), various oppounistic infections, cancers and other conditions. When CD4+ T cell numbers decline below a critical level of 200 cells per uL, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and infections with a variety of oppounistic microbes appear. The first symptoms often include moderate and unexplained weight loss, recurring respiratory tract infections (such as sinusitis, bronchitis, otitis media, pharyngitis), prostatitis, skin rashes, and oral ulcerations. Common oppounistic infections and tumors, most of which are normally controlled by robust CD4+ T cell-mediated immunity then sta to affect the patient. Typically, resistance is lost early on to oral Candida species and to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which leads to an increased susceptibility to oral candidiasis (thrush) and tuberculosis. Later, reactivation of latent herpes viruses may cause worsening recurrences of herpes simplex eruptions, shingles, Epstein-Barr virus-induced B-cell lymphomas, or Kaposi's sarcoma. Pneumonia caused by the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii is common and often fatal. In the final stages of AIDS, infection with cytomegalovirus (another herpes virus) or Mycobacterium avium complex is more prominent.