Padmajakshi. G¹, S. Saini¹, K V Ramana^2,

It is a well known fact that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a word wide pandemic. HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) with oral infections are among world’s most severe public health threat. HIV infection is associated with risk of developing opportunistic infections and especially contribute to oral infections which are further complicated as most of the infections are due to normal flora/microorganisms of endogenous origin. Therefore, rapid and early detection, isolation and characterization of these oral infections related to oral micro biome enhances knowledge of physicians involved in HIV patient care to control and prevent HIV infected individuals from future complications which could be responsible for severe morbidity and mortality. Asymptomatic carrier detection of potential pathogens is important to control infections and also act as a treatment guide for clinical and epidemiological purposes for both clinicians treating HIV patients and clinical microbiologists. Oral infections in HIV infected patients have become an increasing cause of clinical concern for several reasons: firstly they are associated with adverse clinical outcomes and secondly most of them are asymptomatic carriers. This study is an attempt made by us to determine the prevalence of oral micro biota and their association with opportunistic infections in HIV infected patients before and after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

HIV infections, Oral micro biota, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), opportunistic infections in HIV infection, normal bacterial and fungal colonizers of the oral cavity