Effects of HIV-1 on the Nervous System
Key points
- Several disorders have been suggested to relate in a more direct or fundamental way to HIV-1 infection.
- As with other neurologic disease, diagnosis in AIDS patients begins with localization of symptoms and signs and hence involves neuroanatomic classification (Table 411-2) .
- These include the AIDS dementia complex, aseptic meningitis, and perhaps predominantly sensory neuropathy.
- Although considerable uncertainty still exists regarding their pathogenesis, the uniqueness of these conditions in HIV-1-infected compared with other immunosuppressed patients, as well as more direct evidence of virus infection in some patients with the AIDS dementia complex, lends support to this contention.
Effects of HIV-1 on the Nervous System
Several disorders have been suggested to relate in a more direct or fundamental way to HIV-1 infection. These include the AIDS dementia complex, aseptic meningitis, and perhaps predominantly sensory neuropathy. Although considerable uncertainty still exists regarding their pathogenesis, the uniqueness of these conditions in HIV-1-infected compared with other immunosuppressed patients, as well as more direct evidence of virus infection in some patients with the AIDS dementia complex, lends support to this contention.
Diagnosis: Neuroanatomic Approach
As with other neurologic disease, diagnosis in AIDS patients begins with localization of symptoms and signs and hence involves neuroanatomic classification (Table 411-2) .
Written and revised by
David Cohen, M.D.
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