Skin disorders affect about 90% of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in some stage of their disease. The skin manifestations are broad and include viral, bacterial and fungal infections and noninfectious inflammatory diseases. Some of these skin conditions are considered markers of HIV infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), they reflect the current state of the patient's immune, due to the occurrence more prevalent in patients with low CD4 cell count serum. Even with the technological evolution of laboratory methods, dermatological signs are still a basic index of the presence and the clinical course of HIV infection. The present study aims to assess the prevalence of skin diseases of infectious etiology in patients with HIV assisted in the Specialized Reference Unit in Special Infectious and Parasitic Diseases in Belém-Pará, Brazil, from March 2011 to October 2011. We conducted a cross-sectional study by clinical and laboratory evaluation of 210 patients with HIV. Serology, cytologic, mycological and skin biopsy with histopathologic examination were performed according to need. The overall prevalence of skin diseases was 49% Dermatological diseases identified were superficial mycoses, onychomycosis, scabies, viral warts, bacterial infections, genital warts, candidiasis, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, leprosy, syphilis, Kaposi's sarcoma and disseminated histoplasmosis skin. The median CD4 cell count in patients with infectious dermatoses was 298 cells/mm3, significantly lower (p=0.0158 *) compared to the median of the patients without infectious dermatoses (384 cells/mm3). The median CD4/CD8 ratio in patients with infectious skin disease was 0.30, significantly lower (p=0.0138 *) compared to the median of the patients without infectious skin disease (0.41). The median viral load in patients with infectious dermatoses was 173 cópias/mm3 and those without infectious skin disease was 25 cópias/mm3, there is no real difference between the groups (p=0.0741). The occurrence of infectious skin diseases according to CD4 cell count showed that there is significant association between viral warts and herpes simplex virus with the CD4 cell count below 350 cells/mm3 (p= 0.0182* and p=0.0428*, respectively). The variation in the prevalence of infectious dermatoses as time of use of antiretroviral therapy (HAART) showed that only superficial mycoses showed a significant increase in the prevalence when compared to patients who did not perform HAART. In the literature, studies of prevalence vary widely between services due to the type and location of the selected sample. The results found in this study characterize patients from the State of Pará, Brazil, sometimes agreeing with the information contained in other prevalence studies in the literature.
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