Case 17-1996

Presentation of Case A 48-year-old man with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was admitted to the hospital because of bloody diarrhea and severe abdominal pain. Two years earlier, the patient had been found to have advanced AIDS and cytomegalovirus retinitis of the left eye. During the next two years, his CD4+ cell count was less than 10 per cubic millimeter, and he received ganciclovir as prophylaxis for the right eye. He had had diarrhea for many years; repeated stool examinations during the two years before admission yielded no diagnosis. Fatigue and intermittent fever were present for six months before admission. . . .