Delayed Diagnosis of HIV Infection in a Patient with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Are Physician Still Not Aware?

Malignancy risk is increased in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Non-Hodgkin lymphomas, Kaposi's sarcoma and cervical cancer are among the AIDS-defining diseases. Diffuse large B cell lymphoma is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Taking combined antiretroviral therapy is associated with good prognosis in the treatment of AIDS-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Therefore, HIV screening test should be requested in patient groups with the above-mentioned diagnoses. If evaluated from a different perspective, HIV-infected patients can apply to many departments with different clinics. For this reason, all physicians should have knowledge and awareness in terms of AIDS-defining diseases. The awareness of physicians is of great importance in this disease, which has a high success rate with early diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, cases with late diagnosis are still encountered. In this article, a patient treated with chemotherapy for four months with the diagnosis of diffuse large B cell lymphoma, who consulted us as febrile neutropenia and was diagnosed with late HIV infection is presented.