AIDS defining illness
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AIDS defining illnesses are opportunistic infections (infections in immunodeficient patients caused by pathogens which are incapable of causing infection in immunocompetent individuals) which indicate the presence of AIDS. Often, the individual concerned is already known to be HIV positive, and the development of these illnesses is an additional indication that antiviral treatment is required.
Opportunistic pathogens include bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. Typical opportunistic infections include Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, cytomegalovirus infections and aspergillosis. None of these cause significant illness in immunocompetent individuals, but all can be life-threatening in the immunodeficient.
Certain otherwise rare, virally-mediated tumours such as Kaposi's sarcoma could be considered a form of opportunistic infection.
AIDS Surveillance Case Definition
Doctors and scientists have gone into more scrupulous detail regarding specific conditions that are linked with HIV/AIDS and immunodeficiency. According to both the 1987 and 1993 AIDS Surveillance Case Definition from the United States Centers_for_Disease_Control_and_Prevention, which is still employed in diagnosis today, the following conditions are candidates for AIDS-defining illnesses :
- Candidiasis of bronchi, trachea, or lungs
- Candidiasis, esophageal
- Cervical cancer, Invasive_(medical) (added in the 1993 expansion of the list)
- Coccidioidomycosis, disseminated
- Cryptococcosis, extrapulmonary
- Cryptosporidoisis, chronic intestinal (condition must persist for longer than 1 month)
- Cytomegalovirus disease (other than liver, spleen, or lymph nodes)
- Cytomegalovirus retinitis (with loss of vision)
- Disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, any site (pulmonary [1993 expansion of list], or extrapulmonary [1987 expansion of list]
- Disease caused by Mycobacterium, other species or unidentified species, disseminated
- Encephalopathy, HIV-related [1987 expansion of list]
- Herpes simplex : chronic ulcer(s) (condition must persist for longer than 1 month), bronchitis, pneumonitis, or esophagitis
- Histoplasmosis, disseminated
- Isosporiasis, chronic intestinal (condition must persist for longer than 1 month)
- Lymphoma, Burkitt's
- Lymphoma, immunoblastic
- Lymphoma, primary, of brain (primary central nervous system lymphoma)
- Mycobacterium avium complex or disease caused by M. kansasii, disseminated
- Pheumocystis carinii pneumonia
- Pneumonia, recurrent [1993 expansion of list]
- Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
- Salmonella : septicemia, recurrent
- Sarcoma, Kaposi's
- Toxoplasmosis of the brain (encephalitis)
- Wasting caused by HIV infection [1987 expansion]
(Additional AIDS-defining Illnesses in Children)
- Multiple recurrent bacterial infections [added in the 1987 expansion]
- Lymphoid interstitial pnemonia / pulmonary lymphoid hyperplasiafr:Maladie opportuniste