[The effect of high-dose peroral zidovudine treatment in a 4-year-old child with HIV encephalopathy]. / Effekt einer hochdosierten peroralen Zidovudin-Behandlung bei einem vierjährigen Kleinkind mit HIV-Enzephalopathie.

ABSTRACT

We report a four-year-old boy with HIV encephalopathy after vertical HIV infection. On the first admission to our hospital he showed ataxia, loose of expressive language and interstitial pneumonia. After treatment of the pneumonia the patient was started on oral zidovudine with 6 x 6 mg/kg bw/day, because of persisting neurologic symptoms and deep white matter lesions in the MR tomogram of the brain. Two months later he showed an improvement of the gait and the reappearance of the expressive language. Seven months after the start with zidovudine the MR tomogram of the brain revealed the disappearance of white matter lesions with exception of little areas of demyelinisation. No side effects of treatment were observed. The only persisting pathological clinical signs were developmental delay of about a half year and moderately hyperactive tendon reflexes of the lower extremities. Our case suggests that even oral treatment with zidovudine can have a beneficial effect on the HIV encephalopathy in infants.