RT Book, Section A1 Katz, Mitchell H. A2 Papadakis, Maxine A. A2 McPhee, Stephen J. A2 Rabow, Michael W. SR Print(0) ID 1181100345 T1 HIV Infection & AIDS: Differential Diagnosis T2 Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2021 YR 2021 FD 2021 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781260469868 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1181100345 RD 2023/01/28 AB HIV infection may mimic a variety of other medical illnesses. Specific differential diagnosis depends on the mode of presentation. In patients presenting with constitutional symptoms such as weight loss and fevers, differential considerations include cancer, chronic infections such as tuberculosis and endocarditis, and endocrinologic diseases such as hyperthyroidism. When pulmonary processes dominate the presentation, acute and chronic lung infections must be considered as well as other causes of diffuse interstitial pulmonary infiltrates. When neurologic disease is the mode of presentation, conditions that cause mental status changes or neuropathy—eg, alcoholism, liver disease, kidney dysfunction, thyroid disease, and vitamin deficiency—should be considered. If a patient presents with headache and a cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis, other causes of chronic meningitis enter the differential. When diarrhea is a prominent complaint, infectious enterocolitis, antibiotic-associated colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and malabsorptive syndromes must be considered.