Human immunodeficiency virus infection and chemotherapy treatment in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus which that may progress to immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and predispose for opportunistic infections and malignancies. According to recent reports,  1.5 million people died of AIDS in 2013 worldwide which is a 35% decrease since 2005. The number of deaths has decreased in part due to antiretroviral treatment (ART) wide spread use. In Bahrain, in 2011, a multidisciplinary team was established for HIV management involving major stakeholders: public health, infectious diseases, pharmacists, nursing and virologists. A retrospective descriptive study is done about HIV positive patient in Bahrain, their current treatment regimens and other blood parameters were collected, aiming to have a general idea about their health status in a way to help in their medical care. The data was collected retrospectively from the 2014 registry about all patients who are diagnosed to have HIV. Their ART regimen, CD 4 count and viral load were gathered and entered in Excel sheet.. A total of 208 patients were diagnosed to have HIV up to 2014. However, only 108 of them have their full data. In addition, a review of the frequency of admission of these patients over a 10 year period was done too. On reviewing the medical records of the patients admitted over the last ten years from 2004 till 2014, it was found that the total admission of HIV positive patients were 107. Hepatitis C was the most common co infection among those patients with a percentage of 24%. It was found that with better ART treatment and better structure of HIV team and program, we are getting more patients to be controlled. There is a clear increase in the number of patients with improving CD4 count. Based on the results of our study, the HIV multi-disciplinary management team is an essential part for the best management of these patients.