[Kaposi's sarcoma and opportunistic infections in young patients without antecedents liable to involve...

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is characterized by the occurrence, in a subject under 60, of Kaposi's sarcoma and/or severe opportunistic infection due to deficiency of the normal cell-mediated immune defence mechanism against the causative agents. In a number of patients, AIDS is preceded by fever, weight loss, profuse sweating, polyadenopathy or diarrhoea. In an epidemiological study conducted by a French multidisciplinary group from March to December, 1982, 25 cases were collected, including 11 cases of isolated Kaposi's sarcoma, 3 cases of Kaposi's sarcoma plus opportunistic infection, and 15 cases of single or multiple opportunistic infection. From this study and international studies, several points of interest have emerged, viz: (1) AIDS is present in France under multiple clinical aspects; (2) a focus of endemic AIDS has been discovered first in Haiti, then in Equatorial Africa; (3) the cause of AIDS is unknown, though presumed to be a virus (retrovirus?); (4) the disease is characterized by selective deficiency of T4 ("helper") lymphocytes; (5) the subjects at risk are male homosexuals, especially those with several partners, but not as much in France as in the USA; (6) none of the French patients was a drug-addict or a haemophiliac.