COVID-19 in patients with HIV-1 infection: a single-centre experience in northern Italy

Infection. 2021 Apr;49(2):333-337. doi: 10.1007/s15010-020-01492-7. Epub 2020 Aug 3.

Abstract

Background: Since the end of February 2020, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak rapidly spread throughout Italy and other European countries, but limited information has been available about its characteristics in HIV-infected patients.

Methods: We have described a case series of patients with HIV infection and COVID-19 diagnosed at the S.Orsola Hospital (Bologna, Italy) during March and April, 2020.

Results: We reported a case series of 26 HIV-infected patients with COVID-19. Nineteen subjects were men, the median age was 54 years, 73% of patients had one or more comorbidities. Only 5 patients with interstitial pneumonia were hospitalized, but there were no admissions to intensive care unit and no deaths.

Conclusions: In our experience, COVID-19 associated with HIV infection had a clinical presentation comparable to the general population and was frequently associated with chronic comorbidities.

Keywords: Comorbidity; Coronavirus; HIV; Pneumonia; Protease inhibitors.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • CD4 Lymphocyte Count
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • COVID-19 / therapy
  • Comorbidity
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology*
  • HIV-1
  • Humans
  • Italy / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • SARS-CoV-2