Trends in overall opportunistic illnesses, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, cerebral toxoplasmosis andMycobacterium avium complex incidence rates over the 30 years of the HIV epidemic: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: The natural history of HIV infection has changed dramatically after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy. Currently, opportunistic illnesses still represent a major cause of death and hospitalization in this population. In this study, we review the trends in opportunistic illnesses incidence rates and compare the results observed in high-income settings with that for low/middle-income settings, with special attention given to studies from Brazil. METHODS: We systematically searched Pubmed, Web of Science, Lilacs and Google scholar for publications on HIV asso...