Background: Paediatric HIV infection remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children in Sub-Saharan Africa. High levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) have been demonstrated in association with certain clinical manifestations of HIV infection among adults but such finding is yet to be documented among children. The relationship between clinical manifestations of HIV infection and serum level of C-reactive protein among children aged 6 months to 12 years was evaluated. Method: Eighty HIV infected children receiving combined antiretrovirals for ≥3 months and age/gender matched apparently healthy HIV negative controls were recruited by the authors. The clinical manifestations of HIV infection were elicited through history taking, physical examination, review of case notes and laboratory investigations. Serum CRP was estimated using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Data was analyzed with statistical package for social sciences version 20. Result: The mean age of the study participants was 8.50 ± 3.36 years. There were 46 (57.50%) males and 34 (42.50%) females, who participated in the study. The most common clinical manifestation was generalized lymphadenopathy, documented in 26 (32.50%) participants. The mean serum CRP of the study participants was significantly higher than that of the apparently healthy HIV negative control group (8.65 ± 10.89 mg/l vs. 0.89 ± 1.1mg/l), p = 0.04. Multiple regression analysis between serum CRP and clinical features demonstrated significant association between generalized lymphadenopathy and serum CRP (p = 0.04). Conclusion: The presence of generalized lymphadenopathy may be the determinant of raised serum CRP among HIV infected children on HAART.
