Intestinal microsporidiosis in Italian individuals with AIDS.
A survey on microsporidiosis in individuals with AIDS presenting chronic diarrhoea was carried out in Italy, over a four-year period (1992-1995). Three out of 72 (4.2%) individuals were found positive, on intestinal biopsies, for Enterocytozoon bieneusi by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Sixteen individuals with AIDS, from a second group of subjects, were confirmed positive, by TEM, for intestinal microsporidiosis due to Enterocytozoon bieneusi. Of these 19 cases, 10 (52.6%) were homosexual men. Two of these individuals, under albendazole treatment, showed also spores with unusual features. The prevalence of intestinal microsporidiosis (12-50%) reported in European countries, Australia and North America, where homosexuality is the major HIV risk factor (63-77%), is higher than in Italy, where homosexual men represent only 16% of the total number of AIDS cases.
Voglino
M C
MC
Laboratorio di Ultrastrutture, Università La Sapienza, Roma, Italy.
Donelli
G
G
Rossi
P
P
Ludovisi
A
A
Rinaldi
V
V
Goffredo
F
F
Paloscia
R
R
Pozio
E
E
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D016816:Microsporida; D016881:Microsporidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D015995:Prevalence