Opportunistic Infections Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infected Patients in Turkey: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This study aimed to identify opportunistic infections among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients in Turkey. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review of the studies published up to October 1, 2022, in the Pubmed, Web of Science (WoS), and ULAKBİM TR Dizin databases. We searched for medical subject headings (MeSH) terms of (HIV) OR (AIDS) OR (human immunodeficiency virus) AND (opportunistic infections) AND (Turkey). Fifty-five studies in Pubmed, 68 in WoS, and 212 in ULAKBİM TR Dizin were listed with these keywords. After removing duplicated studies, we included 22 original articles, two poster presentations, one short communication, one letter to the editor, and 17 case reports/series. Out of 1582 patients, we defined 788 patients (49.8%) as late presenters. In addition, we detected tuberculosis (286, 5.5%), candidal infections (207, 4%), and Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) (113, 2.1%) as the most frequent opportunistic infections. According to our analysis, late presentation is a major problem in our country, and more screening and sensitization campaigns should be carried out to ensure early diagnosis and earlier care of patients. Keywords: HIV, AIDS, opportunistic infections, Turkey