Heart failure and acquired immune deficiency syndrome: report of 2 cases.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients usually present with prolonged fever, chronic diarrhoea, weight loss and other opportunistic infections. Congestive heart failure is not a usual presentation of AIDS. Here two cases, one a female of 38 years and another a male of 22 years presented with fever and breathlessness. On examination they were found to have features of congestive heart failure. Echocardiography revealed dilated cardiomyopathy. Laboratory investigations suggested human immunodeficiency virus was reactive in both cases with immune deficiencies of different degrees. The first patient expired during hospital stay, but the second one is progressing well with antiretroviral therapy.