HIV can Spread to Brain in Four Months Increasing Risk of Dementia

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS can spread to the patients' brain early in the illness process, revealed a study published in PLoS Pathogens. In the absence of antiretroviral therapy, HIV can genetically evolve and independently replicate in patients' brains as early as four months after initial infection and predisposes an individual to HIV-associated dementia. These findings stress the importance of routine HIV testing to catch the infection as early as possible to allow the prompt initiation of antiretroviral therapy.

Ronald Swanstrom, director, Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), University of North Carolina in the US, informed that one-third of people not taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) to control their HIV will eventually develop HIV-associated dementia.