Bacteraemia as Predictor of HIV Infection in African Children

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Abstract
In Rwanda, both HIV infection and bacteraemia represent major health problems among paediatric populations. We carried out a prospective study to determine if bacteraemia is a marker of HIV infection among ambulatory and hospitalized Rwandese children. All children presenting at the Department of Paediatrics of the Centre Hospitalier de Kigali and who had their blood cultured during a two-month period were eligible for the study. One hundred and thirty-five children were included in the study. A pathogen was isolated from 36 children (26.7%): Salmonella typhimurium (10 cases), S. enteritidis (6), S. typhi (4), Streptococcus pneumoniae (9). Haemophilus influenzae (6) and Staphylococcus aureus (1). No association was found between bacteraemia and HIV seropositivity when all the children were considered. However, among patients less than 2 years old, bacteraemic subjects were more frequently (p < 0.05) HIV seropositive (44%) than those with negative blood cultures (19%). Our study shows that in young children in Central Africa, the presence of bacteraemia may be an important marker of HIV seropositivity.