[Ultrastructural aspects of lesions caused by Mycobacterium spp in AIDS].

Samples from necrotizing lesions in eight autopsy cases of AIDS were examined with transmission electron microscopy. They were selected among 35 autopsies of Mycobacterium spp infection and AIDS, and were part of a series of 230 autopsy cases of AIDS performed from 1984 to 1995 in the Anatomopathologic Institute at Central University of Venezuela. Ultrastructural aspects of micobacteriae, their relationship with macrophages and tissue alterations are discussed and related to the immune defcit observed in AIDS patients.