[Encephalopathy in children infected by vertically transmitted human immunodeficiency virus]

According to different authors, between 30% and 70% of children with AIDS clinically present some degree of neurological involvement. When including studies on pathology, the number increases to 96%.

We present the epidemiology of pediatric neuro-AIDS in Argentina and our experience in the follow-up of 784 HIV+ children infected by vertical transmission, of whom 311 developed neuro-AIDS. Of these children, 92% presented encephalopathy. In 29% of cases infection of the central nervous system was the hallmark of the disease followed by recurrent bacterial infection in 33%. The present series accounts for 25% of pediatric cases of HIV infection in the country.

In our experience, the most remarkable results of antiretroviral treatment compared with natural evolution were: a) Ad integrum remission or noteworthy improvement of progressive and non-progressive encephalopathy, b) Conversion of the most severe cases of progressive encephalopathy (severe developmental delay, acquired microcephaly, spastic quadriparesis and fatal progression) into a more moderate phenotype (less developmental delay, normal head growth, spastic paraparesis and chronic evolution of the disease), and c) Reversion of acquired microcephaly observed in the first years of the epidemic, on which little has been published in the literature.