Cytomegalovirus-induced alveolar hemorrhage in patients with AIDS: a new clinical entity?

We report five cases of alveolar hemorrhage associated with intravascular hemolysis in patients with AIDS. Cytomegalovirus was the only pathogen recovered from the lungs of these patients. There was evidence of multivisceral spread of the virus in all patients, and all had viremia. All had clinical, biological, and pathological features of pulmonary vasculitis, and the conditions of four improved with specific anti-cytomegalovirus therapy.