Bacterial infections in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Clinicopathologic correlations in a series of autopsy cases.

In a group of 46 adult patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who came to autopsy in 1983-1987, the authors found that 38 (83%) had bacterial (nonmycobacterial) infections some time during the course of their illness, compared with 34 (74%) who had parasitic infections, 31 (67%) who had viral infections, 28 (61%) who had fungal infections, and 12 (26%) who had mycobacterial infections. Twenty-five of these patients (54%) had Staphylococcus aureus infections, compared with 7 (15%) who had Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections and 6 (13%) who had enterococcal infections. Overall, undiagnosed infections or malignancies were found in 48%, 22 of the 46 autopsies, including 12 cases of undiagnosed bacterial infections, 8 of these due to S. aureus. These results suggest that bacterial infections in general, and S. aureus infections in particular, are important causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with AIDS.