[Atypical neurologic symptoms in the course of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)]

Unusual neurological symptoms were observed in three homosexual men in whom antibodies against HTLV-III were demonstrated. In case 1, with a known Kaposi sarcoma, multiple intracerebral space-occupying lesions with severe perifocal oedema resulted in marked focal neurological deficits. In case 2, there occurred a transitory myelopathic syndrome lasting a few days, followed by severe retinal changes, associated with a generalized cytomegalic infection, and a cerebrovascular accident in the brainstem. In case 3, a severe myositis especially of the shoulder girdle was diagnosed and treated one year before the demonstration of the HTLV-III infection. The pathogenetic relationship between these illnesses and the HTLV-III infection remains unexplained.