Multiple Opportunistic Infection Due to AIDS in a Previously Healthy Black Woman from Zaire

Abstract

To the Editor: A number of acquired immune-deficiency syndromes (AIDS) have recently been described. They are closely associated with homosexuality in men¹ and with drug abuse in both sexes.^{2 , 3} We have observed a case in a young woman, in the absence of this usual epidemiology.A previously healthy, married 23-year-old black woman left Zaire for Belgium in June 1981. Neither she nor her husband were drug abusers. Eight days after arriving in Belgium she was hospitalized with fever, weakness, subclavicular adenopathy, and splenomegaly. The neutrophil and lymphocyte counts were, respectively, 3100 and 940 per milliliter. Lymph-node biopsy revealed caseous . . .