Early Progression of Disease in HIV-Infected Infants with Thymus Dysfunction

Abstract
Infants with congenital thymic deficiency (the DiGeorge syndrome) have immunodeficiency and a characteristic pattern of low CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte counts and low CD5+ B-lymphocyte counts. Because the thymus is essential for the generation of CD4+ cells, we sought evidence of thymus dysfunction in infants infected perinatally with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).