[AIDS in a woman having had sexual relations with a patient with hemophilia A. Characteristic findings in DNA image cytometry].

A 37-year-old female patient reported marked weight loss, prolonged alopecia, recurrent infections and watery diarrhoea. Examination revealed Salmonella infection, candidiasis and immunological signs of previous toxoplasmosis. Between 1978 and 1981, the patient had had close sexual relations to a patient with haemophilia A. Due to this fact, AIDS was suspected. Serological tests for HIV were not available at the time. The findings in DNA image cytometry (nuclear DNA inclusion bodies, polyploid lymphocyte nuclei and binuclear lymphocytes) suggested a viral infection of the lymphoid cells. Electron microscopy revealed in hepatocytes and cerebral cells intranuclear inclusion bodies whose size and contents were not compatible with an infection caused by cytomegalovirus, herpes virus or Epstein-Barr virus. In autopsy, infections of various organ systems such as pneumonia, tracheobronchitis, urocystitis, pyelonephritis, Candida oesophagitis and enteritis were found.