Analysis of human immunodeficiency virus and cytomegalovirus infection by polymerase chain reaction in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. An autopsy study.

Fixed autopsy tissues from nine patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were assayed for the presence of HIV provirus and/or cytomegalovirus by the polymerase chain reaction. The HIV provirus was detected in lymphoid tissues from all nine patients. With nonlymphoid tissue, HIV was detected 32% (9/28) of tissues with chronic inflammation and in 7% (4/57) of tissues without chronic inflammation. Cytomegalovirus was detected in tissues from six of the nine patients, often in the absence of inclusions, and was most often detected in the adrenal gland and lung. Widely disseminated cytomegalovirus infection was present in three patients with characteristic cytomegalovirus inclusions. A similar pattern of widely disseminated HIV was not identified. These studies correlate histologic features with the presence of specific viral sequences in HIV-infected patients.