1. A 38-year-old man with AIDS, sudden abdominal pain, and bleeding from the rectum
- Author
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Cotton, Deborah J. and Regauer, Sigrid
- Subjects
Cytomegalovirus infections -- Diagnosis ,AIDS (Disease) -- Complications ,Kaposi's sarcoma -- Diagnosis ,Colitis -- Causes of - Abstract
Severe abdominal pains and bleeding from the rectum may be the result of cytomegalovirus infection of the intestines in combination with Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS patients. Cytomegalovirus has a wide variety of disease effects and often occurs in people whose immune systems are weakened by drug therapy or disease. Kaposi's sarcoma is a type of cancer that is often seen in AIDS patients. A 38-year-old male AIDS patient complaining of a quick and severe onset of such symptoms was found to have hemorrhage in the ascending colon and the cecum. The patient's lower small intestine and colon were surgically removed and examined. The intestinal blood vessels showed cellular evidence of widespread cytomegalovirus infection. Kaposi's sarcoma was also found in the intestines. Cytomegalovirus was traditionally associated with the cecum before the AIDS epidemic. It has become more frequently found to infect other areas of the large intestine in AIDS patients, however. more...
- Published
- 1994