AIDS and mycoses
Aravinskiĭ, R.A.
Sovetskaia Meditsina 1990(7): 28-33
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0038-5077 PMID: 2251558 Document Number: 348173
The manner in which HIV attacks the immune system, by suppressing the T-helper lymphocytes, whose main function is to induce T-killer cells to combat an infection, is briefly described. The reduction of the T-helper/T-suppressor ratio is of diagnostic and prognostic significance in AIDS. Four serious opportunistic mycotic infections found in AIDS patients are pneumocystosis (due to Pneumocystis carinii), candidosis, cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis. Their pathogenesis is discussed. Possible therapeutic measures for these mycoses include the use of amphotericin B and ketoconazole.