AIDS in a Child 5½ Years after a Transfusion

To the Editor: We wish to report a case of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) presenting after 5 1/2 years in a child who had received a single blood transfusion. A white boy was referred at 5 1/2 years of age for chronic oral candidiasis, later proved to be secondary to AIDS. He had weighed 7 lb, 13 oz (3.5 kg) at birth, after a normal full-term gestation, and had received 75 ml of packed red cells shortly after delivery, the indication being a fetal–maternal transfusion. He was subsequently healthy (there was an uncomplicated episode of varicella at 5 years) until.