[Diarrhea in AIDS. Group AIDS GIT].

Gastrointestinal (GI) infections are frequent in AIDS patients. The frequency and type of opportunistic GI infections are exactly the same in homosexuals and heterosexuals. Diarrhoea is the usual sign of GI infection, and its mechanism seems to combine a secretory component and a malabsorption. Although a number of pathogens can be isolated, in many cases the diarrhoea cannot be explained by an infection or a lesion. The hypothesis of a primary HIV infection in the epithelium of the small bowel and colon has not been confirmed by immunofluorescence and molecular hybridization. The HIV virus has been found in the GI mucosa, but it was probably carried by the immune cells in general circulation (CD4 lymphocytes and macrophages) which subsequently colonize the chorion of the mucosa.