Human immunodeficiency virus infection and pneumothorax

Spontaneous pneumothorax occurs 450 times more frequently in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) versus the general population and is now the leading cause of nontraumatic pneumothorax in the urban population, to include both those with and without AIDS (1). At some medical centers, more than 50% of patients with spontaneous pneumothorax have AIDS (2). The incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive individuals is estimated to be about 2-5% of overall total cases (3-6). Immune status seems to influence this incidence, as it is related to the appearance of opportunistic lung infections, which are favored by the immunodeficiency. In a 3-year period study of 599 HIV-infected patients by Afessa et al., pneumothorax developed in 1.2% of hospital admissions (3), while in a recent observational study by Rivero et al., over 105 HIV-seropositive patients with spontaneous pneumothorax, the incidence of this complication in non-treated HIV-infected patients was estimated to be 1.06% (4)