HIV-related gastrointestinal disease

Gastrointestinal disease is common in patients infected with HIV and can represent the first significant clininal illness. Diarrhoea, dysphagia, abdominal pain, jaundice or gastrointestinal bleeding may be the result of opportunistic infection, AIDS-related neoplasia, or infection with HIV alone. The spectrum of gastrointestinal tract and liver involvement in HIV infection is broad and has been well reviewed recently. This article is selective in that the main emphasis is placed on the variety of ways that HIV may first declare itself with symptoms in the gastrointestinal tract.