I n 1981, the Centers for Disease Control reported five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in five previously healthy male homosexuals. Prior to this report, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia occurred mainly in severely immunosuppressed patients who were receiving chemotherapy for cancer or organ transplants. Subsequently, numerous additional reports began to emerge describing opportunistic p...

AIDS was believed to be associated with a certain group of people, later the belief changed when the disease start encroaching other set of people. As science evolved, the knowledge about transmission of the virus grew and the evidences for the maternal transmission of the virus were found. Among children, most cases of infection by HIV are transmitted vertically, i.e., from mother to child. As...

The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has significantly improved the clinical outcome of HIV disease, with increased survival rates. However, the introduction of HAART has generated a contrast in the cardiac manifestations of AIDS. In developed countries, we observed an approximate 30% reduction in the prevalence of HIV-associated cardiomyopathy, possibly related to a...

A 38-year-old black man died from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) after a 15-month course. The autopsy revealed a pancolitis and a pneumonia caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV). Exceptionally, there also was a periventricular encephalitis caused by the same organism. Identification of the virus was aided by immunoperoxidase methods. (

Social epidemiology is defined as the study of the distribution of health outcomes and their social determinants (1). It builds on the classic epidemiologic triangle of host, agent, and environment to focus explicitly on the role of social determinants in infectious disease transmission and progression. These determinants are the “features of and pathways by which societal conditions affect hea...

We read with concern the article on passive hyperimmune therapy in the treatment of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).’ In this report, the investigators attempted to show the efficacy of plasma taken from asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (H1V)-positive donors with antibody to HIV on the clinical course of AIDS patients. The investigators set up four requirements to establish e...

This study evaluates the efficiency of rural health centers in Rwanda in delivering the three key human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome services: antiretroviral treatment, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, and voluntary counseling and testing using data envelopment analysis, and assesses the impact of community-based health insurance (CBHI) and performance-ba...