Toxoplasmic encephalitis in AIDS-patients before and after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2011-12, Vol.30 (12), p.1521-1525
• Main Authors: Kiderlen, T. R., Liesenfeld, O., Schürmann, D., Schneider, T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adult; Aged; AIDS; AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - epidemiology; Anti-HIV Agents - administration & dosage; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Antiprotozoal Agents - administration & dosage; Antiretroviral agents; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; Antiviral agents; Berlin - epidemiology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; CD4 antigen; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; Clindamycin; Clindamycin - administration & dosage; Demography; Drug therapy; Encephalitis; Female; highly active antiretroviral therapy; HIV; HIV Infections - complications; HIV Infections - drug therapy; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human protozoal diseases; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Internal Medicine; Male; Medical Microbiology; Medical sciences; Medicine; Middle Aged; Opportunist infection; Parasitic diseases; Patients; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Protozoa; Protozoal diseases; Public health; Pyrimethamine - administration & dosage; Risk Factors; Side effects; Statistical analysis; Sulfonamides; Sulfonamides - administration & dosage; Toxoplasmosis; Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral - epidemiology; Treatment Outcome; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-011-1254-6

Toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) continues to be a severe health problem despite the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). To identify predictors for development of TE we compared demographic, clinical and diagnostic variables in AIDS patients with TE before ( n  = 102) or after the introduction ( n  = 70) of HAART at the Charité University Medicine in Berlin, Germany. Interestingly, patient characteristics did not differ significantly in the pre- and post-HAART groups. Sixty-eight percent of patients had CD4-cell counts of  0.001). Thus, despite the introduction of HAART, awareness of opportunistic infections in HIV patients is warranted. High rates of unawareness of HIV infection should make public health efforts focus on early identification of HIV infection and initiation of and compliance with HAART.