RENAL ENCEPHALITOZOON (SEPTATA) INTESTINALIS INFECTION IN A PATIENT WITH AIDS - POSTMORTEM IDENTIFICATION BY MEANS OF TRANSMISSION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY AND PCR

We describe the occurrence of renal Encephalitozoon (Septata) intestin alis infection in a 35-year-old AIDS patient who died with disseminate d tuberculosis. The patient did not complain of specific symptoms invo lving the kidney or lower urinary tract during life, but at autopsy, l ight microscopic examination of the kidney revealed numerous small rou nd or oval bodies in the tubules and tubular cell cytoplasm that were interpreted as intracellular protozoa. Transmission electron microscop y of tissue retrieved from paraffin-embedded samples identified these organisms as microsporidia belonging to the Encephalitozoonidae family , but did not allow definitive identification of the species of infect ing parasite. This was made possible only by means of Southern blot hy bridization after the polymerase chain reaction, which recognized the micro-organism as E. intestinalis.