HIV and AIDS and the eye in developing countries: a review
S. Lewallen and P. Courtright
Department of Ophthalmology, University of British Columbia, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.
An estimated 30 million people worldwide have been infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus, the causative agent of the acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome. Of these, 90% live in developing countries from
where there is relatively little published information about the ocular
manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome. We review the information available from Africa,
Latin America, and Asia. The prevailing ocular manifestations differ in
some developing countries compared with those in the industrialized
countries. These differences most likely result from different
socioeconomic conditions and basic health care availability and from
different patterns of endemic disease present before the human
immunodeficiency virus epidemic.
