Simultaneous intestinal leishmaniasis and mycobacterial involvement in a patient with acquired immune deficiency syndrome

Gastrointestinal involvement is reported in approximately 50% to 93% of patients with human immunodeficiency virus. It is frequently the result of coinfection with several microoganisms. Selective Leishmania intestinal involvement presents with atypical symptoms for visceral leishmaniasis, and may appear as a relapse or as the first manifestation of the disease. The authors present a patient with acquired immune deficiency syndrome who has a history of treated leishmaniasis and gastrointestinal infection by showed Mycobacterium avium intracellulare (MAI). After the new onset of abdominal pain, an intestinal biopsy showed the presence of both MAI and Leishmania in duodenum. Intestinal infection by Leishmania must be included in the differential diagnosis in patients with a previous history of leishmaniasis or travel to an endemic area.