Rare AIDS-defining diseases in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study

The objective of this study was to investigate the spectrum and frequency o f rare AIDS-defining diseases in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. AIDS-defining diseases contributing less than 1% to the absolute number of all recorded A IDS-defining diseases in at least one of five periods (1988-1990, 1991-1992 , 1993-1994, 1995-1996, 1997) were defined as being rare. A total of 9110 H IV-infected subjects were included in this study. Over the entire 9-year pe riod, the following rare diseases were diagnosed: progressive multifocal le ukoencephalopathy (Iz = 138), disseminated cryptococcosis (n = 67), viscera l herpes simplex disease (n = 66), primary cerebral lymphoma (n = 65), inde terminate cerebral lesion (n = 50), cryptococcal meningitis (n = 34), Mycob acterium kansasii disease (n = 32), recurrent Salmonella septicemia (n = 22 ), intestinal isosporiasis (n = 21), candidiasis of the trachea, bronchi an d lungs (n = 19), toxoplasma retinitis (n = 16), disseminated toxoplasmosis (n = 8), invasive cervical carcinoma (n = 8), extrapulmonary Pneumocystis disease (n = 5), disseminated histoplasmosis (n = 1) and disseminated cocci dioidomycosis (n = 1). Rare diseases accounted for 7.3% of all AIDS-definin g diseases over the entire 9-year period. Physicians should be aware of the likelihood of a broad spectrum of AIDS-defining diseases in HIV-infected p atients.