Pancreatic involvement in co-infection visceral leishmaniasis and HIV: histological and ultrastructural aspects

Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo

Ethel Zimberg Chehter²  Maria Antonieta Longo¹  Antonio Atílio Laudanna²  Maria Irma Seixas Duarte¹ 

[1],São Paulo University Medical School Department of GastroenterologySão Paulo,Brazil

关键词: Visceral Leishmaniasis;    Pancreas;    AIDS;    Opportunistic infection;    Malnutrition;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0036-46652001000200004

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The involvement of the gastrointestinal tract in the co-infection of HIV and Leishmania is rarely reported. We report the case of an HIV-infected adult man co-infected with a disseminated form of leishmaniasis involving the liver, lymph nodes, spleen and, as a feature reported for the first time in the English literature, the pancreas. Light microscopy showed amastigote forms of Leishmania in pancreatic macrophages and immunohistochemical staining revealed antigens for Leishmania and also for HIV p24. Microscopic and ultrastructural analysis revealed severe acinar atrophy, decreased zymogen granules in the acinar cytoplasm and also nuclear abnormalities such as pyknosis, hyperchromatism and thickened chromatin. These findings might correspond to the histologic pattern of protein-energy malnutrition in the pancreas as shown in our previous study in pancreas with AIDS and no Leishmania. In this particular case, the protein-energy malnutrition may be due to cirrhosis, or, Leishmania or HIV infection or all mixed. We believe that this case represents the morphologic substratum of the protein energy malnutrition in pancreas induced by the HIV infection. Further studies are needed to elucidate these issues.

【 授权许可】

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