[Pulmonary diseases and retrovirus infections. A pathological study in 70 cases]

A necroscopic study, conducted in the Pathology Department of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Treichville in Abidjan, included 70 seropositive subjects who died in the Pneumophtisiology Department. We attempted to determine the different pulmonary affections occurring during infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This study demonstrated the predominant role of tuberculosis (44%) and bacterial pneumonia (30%) which remain the predominant aetiologies. Other opportunistic affections were rare including: Pneumocystises, Mycobacteriaceae, and Cytomegalovirus infection and the Kaposi sarcoma. The absence of pulmonary cryptococcosis and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were also noted. Necroscopic examinations do not necessarily provide evidence of the in vivo pathologies, the autopsy being able to identify only the causal diseases or those present at death.