Absence of bacteremia with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare in Ugandan patients with AIDS.

Disseminated infection with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare is the most common systemic bacterial infection in American patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Blood cultures for mycobacteria were obtained from 50 severely ill Ugandan patients fulfilling the World Health Organization criteria for AIDS and considered late in the course of their illness; 98% had antibody to HIV by ELISA. All blood cultures were negative. These data suggest that disseminated infection with M. avium-intracellulare is infrequent in Ugandan patients with AIDS, if it occurs at all.