Abstract
Despite the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), neuronal cell death remains a problem that is frequently found in the brains of HIV-1-infected patients. HAART has successfully prevented many of the former end-stage complications of AIDS, however, with increased survival times, the prevalence of minor HIV-1 associated cognitive impairment appears to be rising among AIDS patients. Further, HIV-1 associated dementia (HAD) is still prevalent in treated patients as well as attenuated forms of HAD and CNS opportunistic disorders. HIV-associated cognitive impairment correlates with the increased presence in the CNS of activated, though not necessarily HIV-1-infected, microglia and CNS macrophages. This suggests that indirect mechanisms of neuronal injury and loss/death occur in HIV/AIDS as a basis for dementia since neurons are not themselves productively infected by HIV-1. In this review, we discussed the symptoms and causes leading to HAD. Outcome from this review will provide new information regarding mechanisms of neuronal loss in AIDS patients.
Highlights
Dementia cannot be considered as a disease by itself but it is the term used to describe a set of symptoms resulting from damages and disorders affecting the brain
Since many diseases and viral infection lead to dementia, we focused our review on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) associated dementia, its symptoms and causes
The terms acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) dementia complex (ADC), and HIV-1 associated dementia (HAD), are used to describe these neurological and psychiatric symptoms caused by HIV-1 infection [11,12]
Summary
Epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus infection and the neurologic complications of the infection. 8. McArthur JC, Sacktor N, Selnes O: Human immunodeficiency virus-associated dementia.
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