Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1994. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
An Australian man who died of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia complicating the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in 1981.
Annu Conf Australas Soc HIV Med. 1993 Oct 28-30;5:34 (abstract no. SC1). Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ASHM5/94348960 Gerrard JG; McGahan SL; Milliken JS; Mathys JM; Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown NSW.
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To present the earliest Australian case of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) reported to date. CLINICAL FEATURES: A 72 year-old man developed a prolonged illness beginning in February 1981 characterised by anorexia, malaise, weight loss and an episode of dermatomal zoster. In July he became increasingly dyspnoeic with a productive cough. He was admitted to hospital in August where Pneumocystis pneumonia was diagnosed from a transbronchial lung biopsy. Splenomegaly and generalised lymphadenopathy were noted but a scalene lymph node biopsy examined at that time failed to establish an underlying diagnosis. The patient was single and lived alone in an inner suburb of Sydney. He had never left Australia and had never received a blood transfusion. His sexual history is not recorded, nor is any history of intravenous drug use. OUTCOME: The patient died on September 5, 1981. Recent re-examination of the preserved lymph node specimen has detected human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) proviral DNA using an in situ hybridisation method. Similar re-examination of preserved prostatic tissue from a resection performed in January 1980 on the same patient has also proven positive. CONCLUSION: AIDS existed in Australia as early as July 1981, around the time of the publication of the first American case reports. Prior to this report the earliest AIDS diagnosis made in Australia had been in a visiting American man in December 1982, and the earliest indigenously acquired case had been diagnosed in December 1983. Whether this represents an isolated case in a man who progressed rapidly because of his relatively advanced age, or whether HIV was present earlier in Australia than previously thought remains unanswered.
Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*HISTORY Adult Australia AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/*HISTORY Case Report History of Medicine, 20th Cent. Human Male Pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii/*HISTORY HISTORICAL ARTICLE ABSTRACT 941230
M94C4267
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1994. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
