The spectrum of psoriasis in an Irish HIV population

Object Report of the pattern of psoriasis and response to therapy in psoriatic patients infected with HIV-1. Setting Department of Dermatology, St. James's Hospital, Dublin Subjects Seven HIV-positive patients with psoriasis: six seen as part of a prospective dermatological assessment of all HIV-positive patients; one separately referred Observations Three patients had psoriasis vulgaris which was limited and responsive to conventional therapy; one also had flexural psoriasis which proved difficult to control. Four patients had features of keratodermia blennorrhagicum; their skin disease was severe and warranted systemic treatment in three cases, without adverse affects. However, only one patient fulfilled the complete criteria for Reiter's syndrome. As six of the seven cases occurred in a prospective age- and sex-matched controlled study of skin disease in 92 HIV-1-infected patients in which only two controls had psoriasis, it would suggest that there may be an increased prevalence of psoriasis in the HIV-1 population.