Severe pneumococcal sepsis and meningitis in human immunodeficiency virus-infected adults with sickle cell disease.

Pneumococcal infection is frequent in children with sickle-cell disease (SCD) but is less common in adults. Infection due to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is also a risk factor for pneumococcal infection. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical course of HIV infection in adults with SCD. During a 6-year period, 283 adults suffering from SCD were screened for HIV type 1 and HIV type 2 infections. The clinical course of HIV infections in these patients was retrospectively analyzed at the term of the study. HIV type 1 infection was detected in eight patients. The mean follow-up period after diagnosis of HIV infection was 4.6 years. None of the patients had AIDS. Five episodes of severe pneumococcal infection were observed in four of these eight patients (septic shock in two patients and three episodes of meningitis in two patients); two patients died of meningitis. Only one severe pneumococcal infection (meningitis) was observed in the 275 non-HIV-infected patients with SCD (P = .000001). Our results show that pneumococcal infection appears to occur frequently and is often serious in HIV-infected adults with SCD.