Clinical features associated with neurosyphilis in people living with HIV and late latent syphilis.

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of neurosyphilis is a challenge, and the criteria for deciding when to perform a lumbar puncture are still controversial, especially in people living with HIV with a late latent syphilis diagnosis. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of demographic, clinical, and laboratory data of people with HIV and documented late latent syphilis or syphilis of unknown duration with a cerebrospinal fluid VDRL test. RESULTS: 122 patients were evaluated, of whom 52 had the diagnosis of neurosyphilis. Patients with and without neurosyphilis presented a similar viral load and lymphocyte CD4+ T-cell count. Neurological symptoms (OR 6.4, 95% CI 2.1-22.4; p < 0.01), serum VDRL titers of 1:32 (p<0.01), 1:64 (p = 0.055), and ≥1:128 (p < 0.001) were associated with neurosyphilis. Furthermore, serum VDRL ≥1:32 were associated with (OR 24.9, 95% CI 5.45-154.9; p < 0.001) or without (OR 6.5, 95% CI 2.0-29.2; p = 0.004) neurological symptoms with neurosyphilis; however, VDRL ≤1:16 with neurological symptoms can be associated with neurosyphilis (OR 7.6, 95% CI 1.03-64.3; p = 0.046). CONCLUSION: Neurological symptoms, particularly headache, were predictors of neurosyphilis in people with HIV irrespective of their viral load and lymphocyte CD4+ T-cell count in late latent syphilis. A serum VDRL ≥1:32 increased the risk of neurosyphilis in patients with or without any symptoms.

Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis: An Unusual Presentation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection.

BACKGROUND: Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a rare inflammatory and demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system, with a distinct tendency to a perivenous localization of pathological changes. Children are the most affected population and frequently presented after exanthematous viral infections or vaccination. Due to the rarity of this disease, the annual incidence rate in the population is not precisely known. Case Presentation. Here, we present a 28-year-old male HIV-1 positive patient with an acute confusional state, a diminished alert status characterized by somnolence, hypoprosexia, and complex visual hallucinations. Neuroimages reported white matter demyelinating lesions, mainly affecting the semioval centers, the frontal lobe, and the left parietal lobe; hypointense on T1-weighted images, hyperintense on T2-weighted images and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery weighted images, DWI with restricted diffusion, and a parietal ring-enhancing lesion after IV gadolinium administration. Discussion. In HIV positive patients, the demyelinating disorders have a broader clinical spectrum that could be explained by the immunosuppressed state of the patients, the evolution of the disease, the use of medications, the opportunistic infections, and the environment. Due to this highly variable clinical spectrum, ADEM is a significant challenge for the physicians in HIV positive patients, causing a delay in the diagnosis and treatment. CONCLUSION: We suggest that ADEM should be considered among the differential diagnosis in HIV-infected patients with focal or multifocal neurological symptoms, particularly in encephalopathies with multifocal central nervous system involvement without severe immunosuppression.