Bacillary angiomatosis affecting the oral cavity. Report of two cases and review

Bacillary angiomatosis (BA) is an infectious disease characterized by proliferative vascular lesions; it mainly affects HIV-positive patients. Multiple cutaneous nodular lesions together with fever, chills, malaise, anorexia, vomiting and headache are the most important clinical manifestations. It may also involve the heart, liver, spleen, bones, lung, muscles, lymph nodes, central nervous system and other organs. Erythromycin, 500 mg four times a day, is the drug of choice. The importance of this lesion lies in its clinical and histological similarity with other diseases. Cutaneous and oral lesions of BA clinically resemble Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Histopathologically, BA may be confused with angiosarcoma, pyogenic granuloma and epithelioid hemangioma. We report two HIV-positive men with BA lesions in the oral mucosa. Diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy and Warthin-Starry silver staining.