Objectives : The object of this study was to compare perceived stress and quality of life among patients with HIV infection, patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and normal controls Methods: Stress Response Inventory(SRI) and Symptom checklist 90-Revised(SCL-90-R) were used to measure perceived stress responses and psychopathology. Smithklein Beecham quality of life scale was used to measure quality of life. Results : Patients with HIV infection scored significantly higher on scores of tension, anger, depression, fatigue and frustration subscale of the SRI than those with pulmonary tuberculosis and normal controls. Scores of the SCL-90-R, somatization, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism subscale were also significantly higher in patients with HIV infection than those with pulmonary tuberculosis and normal controls. Patients with HIV infection scored significantly lower in quality of life than those with pulmonary tuberculosis. In patients with HIV infection, age had a significantly negative correlation with scores of somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism sub scale of the SCL-90-R. but the level of education had a significantly positive correlation with somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism sub scale of the SCL-90-R. Conclusion : The results suggest that patients with HIV positive were likely to have higher levels of perceived stress response and psychopathology, and lower quality of life than those with pulmonary tuberculosis and normal controls.