Prevalence of mycobacteremia in patients with AIDS and persistant fever.

In the advanced stages of AIDS, characterized by severe immunodepression, tuberculosis (TB) may present with a clinical picture of septic shock, due to typical bacteremia. Hematogenic dissemination of mycobacteria is frequent in immunodepressed patients with TB or disseminated mycobacteriosis, leading to increased positivity in detection by automated blood culture. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of mycobacteremia in patients with AIDS and with prolonged fever seen at the Emilio Ribas Institute of Infectology.