Hematologic manifestations of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus.

Selective tropism of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) for cells with CD4 receptors and especially for TH lymphocytes--key cells in hematopoiesis--has from the clinico-biologic point of view a great many hematologic manifestations of which knowledge is essential for a good diagnosis and treatment as well as for a judicious estimation of prognosis. Thus the study presents the hematologic entities specifically associated with HIV infection (such as ITP, NHML) as well as the hematologic entities associated with HIV infection without presenting a causal relationship with the latter. The study also discusses the quantitative and morphologic changes of peripheral blood and of bone marrow often enlightening for the disease and its complications. An important chapter in the study is devoted to the hematologic changes induced by the HIV infection therapy as well as by the manners of therapeutic approach to the complex hematologic problems raised by the disease.