Cognitive assessment of school-age children infected with maternally transmitted human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

Thirty-three children vertically infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), who were born before 1985, were followed in a single center, and had reached the age of 6 years, were studied and tested for school achievement. Of these 33 children, 24 were also tested for cognitive abilities, fine motor and language skills, and emotional adaptation. Of the 33 patients, 22 (67%) had normal school achievement at a mean age of 9.5 +/- 1.6 years. The mean IQ was 95 +/- 11, but 54% of the patients (13/24) had abnormal results on visual-spatial and time orientation tests, 44% had speech and/or language delay or articulation disorders, and 29% of the children and 42% of the parents had psychoaffective disturbances of intermediate or high severity. Normal school performance was positively correlated with results of the different cognitive tests and to a lesser extent with the absence of psychoaffective symptoms, but was independent of the mode of maternal infection or the parents' educational level. Children with normal school achievement had a higher percentage of circulating CD4+ lymphocytes during the course of infection. We conclude that children whose HIV-1 infection is maternally acquired have better cognitive abilities and school achievement than was initially thought, and that the percentage of circulating CD4+ lymphocytes during the first years of life appears to be predictive of future school adaptation or cognitive abilities.

Coma associated with intense bursts of abnormal movements and long-lasting cognitive disturbances: an acute encephalopathy of obscure origin.

We report six previously healthy children who several days after a prodromal illness had an acute encephalopathy that ran a biphasic course. It appears to constitute a recognizable syndrome with a good prognosis that can be differentiated from other encephalopathies of obscure origin as previously defined by Lyon et al. The active phase was dominated by coma or confusion and by abnormal movements, including disordered gesticulation and attacks of orofacial dyskinesia or limb dystonia associated with permanent rigidity and culminating in opisthotonic posturing. Repeated seizures were observed in only two patients. Permanent slow waves were recorded on the electroencephalogram in all patients, even during bursts of abnormal movements. Cerebrospinal fluid and results of serologic studies were normal throughout the course of the disease, and attempts at viral isolation and antiviral antibody detection yielded negative results. Brain imaging either showed no abnormalities or suggested a moderate degree of brain edema. The recovery phase, which extended for several weeks, was characterized by a rapid return of motor function and persistent behavioral and cognitive disturbances. Nonverbal reasoning recovered long before verbal expression returned to normal. Four patients eventually recovered fully, whereas two had mild sequelae.

Circulating immune complexes containing rubella antigens in late-onset rubella syndrome.

Eight infants with late-onset rubella syndrome were investigated. All patients had been infected by rubella virus during gestation but had minimal clinical symptoms at birth and during a latent period of several months. They presented secondarily an acute phase characterized by a severe multisystem disease. Antirubella antibody titers were present at low levels before and during the first weeks of the acute phase, contrasting with high serum levels of IgM. The percentage of T lymphocytes was very low and an increase of B lymphocytes was observed. The presence of circulating immune complexes which appeared to contain rubella antigens was demonstrated. These findings suggest that the lesions observed in late-onset rubella syndrome are partly due to CIC, and that suscepibility to infection can be related to a peripheral T and B lymphocyte disequilibrium.