Infectious diarrhea in patients with AIDS. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Infectious diarrhea in patients with AIDS.

Dig Dis Sci. 1988 Sep;33(9):1141-6. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/88312060
Antony MA; Brandt LJ; Klein RS; Bernstein LH; Department of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert; Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10467.

Abstract: A multitude of opportunistic infections has been documented in virtually every organ system of patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Prominent among these are infections of the gastrointestinal tract. However, studies of large numbers of patients documenting the frequency of such involvement are lacking. We reviewed the records of 100 patients with AIDS and assessed the frequency and organisms causing infectious diarrhea. We found diarrhea to be more common in homosexuals (80%) than heterosexuals with a risk factor of parenteral drug use (58%). In one third of all cases, no infectious etiology was found. Mycobacterium avium intracellulare (MAI) was the most commonly identified cause of infectious diarrhea in our series, followed by cytomegalovirus, cryptosporidium, Salmonella spp., and herpes virus. In addition, bacteremia was documented in 43% of patients with infectious diarrhea and was most commonly due to MAI. Finally, we demonstrated that multiple concurrent infections are not uncommon (22%) in AIDS patients and that the diarrheal syndrome may not respond unless all pathogens are eradicated.
Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*COMPLICATIONS Bacterial Infections/ETIOLOGY Comparative Study Diarrhea/*ETIOLOGY Human *Opportunistic Infections Protozoan Infections/ETIOLOGY Retrospective Studies Septicemia Virus Diseases/ETIOLOGY JOURNAL ARTICLE

KWDacquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome/KWDcomplicationsbacterialinfections/etiologycomparativestudydiarrhea/KWDetiologyhumanKWDopportunisticinfectionsprotozoaninfections/etiologyretrospectivestudiessepticemiavirusdiseases/etiologyjournalarticle
881230
M88C0574

Copyright © 1988 - National Library of Medicine. Reproduced under license with the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

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