Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of opportunistic infections (OI) is an important component of comprehensive medical care to patients with HIV and carried all the health care reform, according to the capacity and profile hospital. Health care, providing medical care to patients with HIV, must be equipped with a set of diagnostic equipment and medicines in accordance with the table of equipment establishment.
Peculiarities of opportunistic infections:
- Dissemination of the pathogen inherent in the definition of it in various organs and tissues;
- Poorly amenable to specific therapies often recur
- Poor specific immune response to opportunistic pathogen. The most common opportunistic infections in the European region and Ukraine have tuberculosis, bacterial infection, Pneumocystis pneumonia, herpes infection (shingles, herpes infections caused by HHV-1, HHV-2 and HHV-5), Candida esophagitis, cryptococcal meningitis, toxoplasmosis.
Initial assessment of the health of HIV-infected and AIDS patient with unknown status, which are infections or diseases that are often inherent in patients with HIV infection should receive counselling and testing in accordance with the national protocol for VCT. The doctor must explain the patient appropriateness test and learn the importance of the result for the corresponding choice of treatment, but the patient has the right to refuse it. Initial patient evaluation should include:
- Pre-test counselling;
- Carrying out blood tests to identify antibodies to HIV by ELISA ½;
- Post-test counselling (regardless of the result) - Review of the patient;
- Laboratory and instrumental investigations:
- Blood count;
- Urinalysis;
- Biochemical blood tests (ALT, AST, bilirubin, creatinine)
- Serological study (markers of viral hepatitis, the study of syphilis, gonorrhea and scraping Ch.trachomatis, IgG antibodies to T.gondii, antigen titer Cryptococcus, research on CMV infection);
- Instrumental studies (chest X-ray, ultrasound)
- Review of specialized doctors (indication)