Important clinical situations in pediatric HIV infection

Abstract

Presentation of HIV infection in children differs from than in adults: there are different clinical manifestations and, therefore, diagnosis and treatment have their own particularities. Unlike adults, children have a developing immune system without previous immunity for many infectious agents; consequently, opportunistic infections in children correspond to primary infections while those in adults usually result from reactivations.

Physical examination in HIV-infected newborns is usually normal, but as the infection progresses clinical manifestations of immunological incompetence appear. In contrast to adults, the most frequent findings in children are recurrent bacterial infections, parotid chronic edema, lymphoid interstitial pneumonia and early neurological deterioration. Respiratory and central nervous systems are frequently and severely involved during HIV-1 infection; diseases such as tuberculosis have special characteristics in HIV-1 infected children.