Cause of death among people with retroviral infection in rural Guinea-Bissau

HIV-2 and HTLV-1 infection are both associated with increased mortality, but the causes of death are not well known. Relatives of 84 deceased persons from a rural part of Guinea-Bissau were interviewed using a standardised verbal autopsy questionnaire in the context of a large longitudinal community cohort study. The results were reviewed by two doctors to conclude cause of death. A cause of death was agreed upon for 49/84 subjects. Nineteen of these 49 were infected with HIV-2 alone and 7 with both HIV-2 and HTLV-1. Among these, the main causes of death were pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 5), AIDS (n = 5), cerebrovascular accident (n = 5), sepsis (n = 3) and hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 2). Death associated with traditional HIV-related causes were implicated in 13/26 (50%) of those with HIV-2.