ABSTRACT
In a cross-sectional population study of Danish patients with AIDS 16 of 23 had clinical signs of neurological disease with muscle weakness or ataxia of the lower limbs as the dominant manifestation. Tibial and median nerve conduction was mildly slowed in a few patients and 15 had widening of cerebral ventricles at CT. However, all had prolonged latency of cortical evoked response following tibial nerve stimulation mainly due to slowing through the spinal cord. The prolongation of the latency of the evoked cortical responses was most pronounced in patients with lower limb ataxia and/or paresis. It is concluded that affection of the long tracts of the spinal cord are closely associated with the human immunodeficiency virus infection.
Subject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/physiopathology , Spinal Cord Diseases/physiopathology , Brain/physiopathology , Brain Diseases/physiopathology , Brain Stem/physiopathology , Denmark , Electroencephalography , Evoked Potentials, Auditory , Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory , Evoked Potentials, Visual , Humans , Leg/innervation , Neural Conduction , Neuromuscular Diseases/etiology , Neuromuscular Diseases/physiopathology , Reaction Time/physiologyABSTRACT
Serum samples from 608 residents of Saudi Arabia were examined for the presence of hepatitis B, delta and HTLV-III virus markers. The HBsAg carrier rate was 17% and the prevalence of all hepatitis B virus markers was 55%. Males between 16 and 25 years had a significantly higher prevalence of all HBV markers (69%; 95% confidence limits: 49%-82%) compared to females in the same age group (34%; 95% confidence limits: 25%-45%). The prevalence of HBsAg was significantly higher among males aged 25-35 years (24%; 95% confidence limits: 19%-40%) compared to females in the same age group (9%; 95% confidence limits: 4%-18%). In addition, the HBsAg carrier rate for all males (23%) was significantly higher compared to females (11%) (p less than 0.001). HBeAg was found in 12% of 89 HBsAg-positive individuals, 48% were anti-HBe positive and 40% were negative for both markers. Hepatitis B virus DNA was found in 11 of 41 individuals tested. Five of these were HBeAg positive and four were anti-HBe positive. Anti-delta was found in three of 36 HBsAg positive serum samples (8%). Of 485 individuals tested for anti-HTLV-III, none were positive.
