![]() Unfortunately, it can take two to four weeks to confirm a diagnosis of MAC by the current state-of-the- art blood culture system, and this laboratory test may not be available to all clinical labs. ![]() Co-infection with MAC remains a distinct possibility, and for this reason the clinician would be wise to include MAC in the differential diagnosis every time an AIDS patient presents with symptoms such as weight loss, night sweats, persistent fever, diarrhea, and fatigue. As a result, the discovery that such a patient is culture- or biopsy-positive for cytomegalovirus, for example, does not mean that this is the sole source of that patient's symptoms. In cases of suspected MAC disease the clinician's diagnostic conundrum is complicated by the fact that many late-stage AIDS patients suffer from multiple concurrent infections. Because these symptoms are nonspecific, they can easily be confused with the equally insidious, equally debilitating presentations of other late-stage OIs. ![]() Unfortunately, patients with advanced HIV disease and CD4 counts below 75 cells/mm 3 are susceptible to a number of OIs in addition to MAC - and many of these infections can present with symptoms similar to MAC: weight loss, persistent fevers, night sweats, diarrhea, fatigue, and generalized wasting.
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