Postmortem findings in HIV/AIDS patients in a tertiary care hospital in rural South Africa

Abstract

South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS, and various associated infectious and noninfectious conditions contribute towards mortality. The objective of this study was to determine the important post-mortem findings in HIV-infected individuals in a high HIV burden rural area in South Africa. The patient population included HIV patients who died at the tertiary care hospital, from 2000–2008. Autopsies were performed according to standard protocols and diagnoses were made with additional laboratory investigations wherever required. A total of 86 patients were autopsied (30 males, 56 females). The major postmortem findings were related to infections, with 38% of the patients having had some form of tuberculosis, followed by pyogenic infections – pneumonias (21.5%), meningitis (10.1%) and septicemias (5.1%). Other important infections included opportunistic fungi like cryptococcosis (7.6%) and pneumocystis pneumonia (8.9%). Among the noninfectious conditions, the findings seen were predominantly related to liver (10.1%) and cardiac involvement (10.1%).