Human immunodeficiency virus infection in women: report of 102 cases.

We examined surgical specimens from 19 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositive females and 83 females with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) to determine (a) frequency of opportunistic infections (OI) and malignancies, (b) differences or similarities between different risk groups, and (c) differences or similarities when compared with men having AIDS. A risk factor was identified in 86 patients (72 AIDS and 14 HIV seropositive), of whom the majority were intravenous drug abusers (IVDA) (74%) or had had heterosexual contact with a person with AIDS or at risk for AIDS (20%). The remaining patients were blood transfusion recipients or Haitians. All females were treated at Bellevue hospital, a large municipal inner city hospital. The conclusions of our study are as follows. (a) Women with AIDS develop the same type and incidence of OI and lymphomas as the general AIDS population. (b) The incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma in females with AIDS is similar to that seen in male heterosexuals with AIDS. A greater than expected number of epithelial malignancies were found in our population. Characteristics of these carcinomas included young age of the patients (average age of 40), unusually aggressive nature of the tumors, and tendency to occur prior to development of AIDS. We therefore suggest HIV testing in all young females (and males) who present with an unusual or particularly aggressive epithelial neoplasm. (c) The most common OI was Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), followed by mycobacterial infections. PCP was seen in a significantly greater percentage of females with a sexual contact risk than in female IVDA (P less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)