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Toxoplasmosis Is Most Common HIV-Related Neurological Ailment

Toxoplasmosis Is Most Common HIV-Related Neurological Ailment

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Although antiretroviral therapy significantly reduces the risk of developing toxoplasmosis encephalitis or to experience rapid toxoplasmosis disease progression and death, the ailment remains the most common neurological condition among HIV-positive adults, Italian researchers report in the December 1 edition of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Data from the Italian Investigative NeuroAIDS Study show that toxoplasmosis encephalitis was the most common neurological condition among 805 HIV-positive adults who had been diagnosed with a central nervous system abnormality between 2000 and 2002; 205 study subjects, 26% of the total, developed the disease. Male patients, previous exposure to antiretroviral therapy, the use of toxoplasmosis prophylactic drugs, and a higher CD4-cell count decreased toxoplasmosis risk, the researchers report. 'Because toxoplasmosis encephalitis was associated with a high probability of early death, all strategies to avoid toxoplasmosis encephalitis occurrence, such as not delaying [antiretroviral therapy] until there is a high risk of clinical progression and maintaining prophylaxis in immunosuppressed patients for who [antiretroviral therapy] has failed, should be considered,' the researchers conclude.

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