Document 0695
 DOCN  M94A0695
 TI    An Australian man who died of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
       complicating the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in 1981.
 DT    9412
 AU    Gerrard JG; McGahan SL; Milliken JS; Mathys JM; Royal Prince Alfred
       Hospital, Camperdown NSW.
 SO    Annu Conf Australas Soc HIV Med. 1993 Oct 28-30;5:34 (abstract no. SC1).
       Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ASHM5/94348960
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To present the earliest Australian case of the acquired
       immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) reported to date. CLINICAL FEATURES: A
       72 year-old man developed a prolonged illness beginning in February 1981
       characterised by anorexia, malaise, weight loss and an episode of
       dermatomal zoster. In July he became increasingly dyspnoeic with a
       productive cough. He was admitted to hospital in August where
       Pneumocystis pneumonia was diagnosed from a transbronchial lung biopsy.
       Splenomegaly and generalised lymphadenopathy were noted but a scalene
       lymph node biopsy examined at that time failed to establish an
       underlying diagnosis. The patient was single and lived alone in an inner
       suburb of Sydney. He had never left Australia and had never received a
       blood transfusion. His sexual history is not recorded, nor is any
       history of intravenous drug use. OUTCOME: The patient died on September
       5, 1981. Recent re-examination of the preserved lymph node specimen has
       detected human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) proviral DNA using an in
       situ hybridisation method. Similar re-examination of preserved prostatic
       tissue from a resection performed in January 1980 on the same patient
       has also proven positive. CONCLUSION: AIDS existed in Australia as early
       as July 1981, around the time of the publication of the first American
       case reports. Prior to this report the earliest AIDS diagnosis made in
       Australia had been in a visiting American man in December 1982, and the
       earliest indigenously acquired case had been diagnosed in December 1983.
       Whether this represents an isolated case in a man who progressed rapidly
       because of his relatively advanced age, or whether HIV was present
       earlier in Australia than previously thought remains unanswered.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*HISTORY  Adult  Australia
       AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/*HISTORY  Case Report  History of
       Medicine, 20th Cent.  Human  Male  Pneumonia, Pneumocystis
       carinii/*HISTORY  HISTORICAL ARTICLE  MEETING ABSTRACT

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).