INFECTIOUS COMPLICATIONS OF AIDS

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

INFECTIOUS COMPLICATIONS OF AIDS

AIDS. Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention. DeVita VT, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, eds. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company, p. 161-84, 1985.. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ICDB/86616577
Masur H; Kovacs JA; Ognibene F; Shelhamer J; Parrillo JE; Critical Care Medicine Dept., Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD

Abstract: Opportunistic infections ultimately develop in almost every patient (pt) with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Most AIDS pts develop multiple infectious processes and die either because there is no effective therapy available for the pathogen that is causing systemic disease or because they no longer can respond to conventional antimicrobial agents. The spectrum of infectious diseases that commonly occur in AIDS is unique among immunodeficiency disorders. Each of the pathogens that are seen frequently in AIDS pts has been recognized in other immunoincompetent pts, particularly in those with defects in cell-mediated immunity. In AIDS pts from different risk groups, the spectrums of infections are very similar though not identical. Common pathogens include Pneumocystis carinii, Candida species, herpes simplex, Cryptococcus neoformans, Toxoplasma gondii, cytomegalovirus, Cryptosporidium, Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, varicella-zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus, Salmonella species, and other microorganisms. Infectious processes will continue to be the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in AIDS pts until a method can be found to produce immune reconstitution. Several clinical syndromes caused primarily by infectious processes occur so frequently among AIDS pts that they deserve particular attention. The differential diagnosis and diagnostic approach to these syndromes differ from those for other immunodeficiency diseases and thus the clinician must address them somewhat differently. The frequent clinical syndromes caused in AIDS pts by infectious agents include diffuse pneumonia, fever, diarrhea, CNS disorders, generalized lymphadenopathy, esophagitis, and retinochoroiditis. (48 Refs)

Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*COMPLICATIONS Candidiasis/COMPLICATIONS Central Nervous System Diseases/ETIOLOGY Cryptococcosis/COMPLICATIONS Cryptosporidiosis/COMPLICATIONS Cytomegalovirus Infections/COMPLICATIONS Diarrhea/ETIOLOGY Fever/ETIOLOGY Herpes Zoster/COMPLICATIONS Human Lymphatic Diseases/COMPLICATIONS Mycobacterium avium Mycobacterium bovis Pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii/COMPLICATIONS Toxoplasmosis/COMPLICATIONS Tuberculosis/COMPLICATIONS MONOGRAPH REVIEW

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