Chronic diarrhea among adults in Kigali, Rwanda: association with bacterial enteropathogens, rectocolonic inflammation, and human immunodeficiency virus infection.

One hundred patients with chronic diarrhea were seen in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Centre Hospitalier de Kigali, Rwanda; stool and/or rectal swab culture was performed for these patients, and they underwent rectoscopy and serological testing for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Enteropathogenic bacteria were isolated from 39 (39%) of the patients: Shigella species (22 of 100 patients tested), non-typhi Salmonella (11/100), Aeromonas species (5/60), and Campylobacter species (4/60). Rectocolitis was seen in 70 (70%) of the patients. HIV-1 antibodies were detected in 82 (94%) of 87 patients tested. Cytomegalovirus was not found in rectal biopsy specimens from 29 patients. Entamoeba histolytica was detected in two of 31 rectal smears. Idiopathic ulcerative colitis was diagnosed for two HIV-1-seropositive patients. One or more AIDS-defining diseases were found in 32 (32%) of the patients, and 72 (72%) fulfilled the World Health Organization's clinical case definition criteria for AIDS. Chronic diarrhea, as seen in a hospital setting in a region highly endemic for HIV-1 infection, is strongly associated with HIV-1 infection, with rectocolonic inflammation, and with infection due to enteropathogenic bacteria.