[X-ray pulmonary manifestations in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus]

Abstract

Altogether 155 patients with a newly detected positive reaction to HIV (a human immunodeficiency virus) were investigated in the Republic of Burundi. Chest x-ray was done in 80 of them. Pulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed in 2 of them, pneumonia (chronic, interstitial and bronchial)--in 15. Enhancement and deformity of lung marking were detected in 45 patients (coincidence with clinical signs of acute bronchitis was found but in 5 of them). A conclusion has been made of interstitial pneumonias being typical of HIV-infected patients and of frequent enhancement of lung marking in the preclinical stage of AIDS.

PIP: The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first diagnosed in burundi in 1983 when a large number of patients were registered with Kaposi's sarcoma, cryptococcal meningitis, and disseminated candidiasis. In the 1st phase of the disease the vi rus is dormant. In the 2nd phase seroconversion appears; and in the 3rd phase generalized adenopathy emerges. In the 4th phase the full-blown disease appears as a result of cellular immunity deficit with emaciation, fever, sweating, chronic diarrhea, asthenia, blood parameter changes (lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, anemia, and specific immune disorders). The early phases can be diagnosed by serological tests. During 1989 a group of 155 patients with 1st signs of seropositivity were studied in the central hospital of Bugumbura. The available clinical diagnostic markers were: 56 cases of herpes, 26 cases of generalized adenopathy, 25 cases of inflammatory infiltration of paraganglionic zones, 13 abscesses and phlegmons, 8 cases of chronic proctitis, 8 prurigo cases, 7 cases of chronic pneumonia and bronchitis, 4 cases of paresis of the facial nerve, 4 cases of Kaposi's sarcoma, 2 cases of fresh syphilis, 2 cases of anemia, asthenia, dizziness, and weight loss. Tomo- and zonographical X-ray study of the thorax of 80 patients aged 20-65 (51 men and 29 women) was performed. In 62 patients changes in the lungs were evident. In 2 patients tuberculosis of the lungs was diagnosed: miliary TB in a 26-year woman and disseminated TB in a 31-year man. 2 chronic and 3 bronchial, and 10 interstitial pneumonia cases were diagnosed in 15 patients with average age of 30 years. 4 patients had peribronchial and pneumonic infiltrations. In a group of 45 patients magnified picture showed no deformation in the lungs; and only 5 had respiratory organ pathology. Interstitial pneumonia was the most often diagnosed ailment by X-ray inpatients infected with HIV.