Neurological manifestations of HIV infection at the Bobo-Dioulasso Hospital (Burkina Faso)

Neurological manifestations of HIV infection are frequent and diverse. Diag nosis is often difficult due to geographical factors. 686 of the 3409 patie nts admitted to the internal Medicine ward of Bobo-Dioulasso in 1995-1996 w ere HIV seropositive. This represents a prevalence of 20.1%. The sociodemog raphic and clinical charasteristics of 101 patients with neurological probl ems during the study period are reported in this paper This case series rep resents 14% of the HIV-positive admissions. The mean age was 35.7 years and 43% of the cases were aged 30 to 40 years. Sex-ratio was 1.6 male for 1 fe male. Focal deficits were observed in 36 of cases. Peripheral neuropathy (3 7%), meningitis or meningoencephalitis (20%) fitting (8%) and myelitis (8%) were the other clinical presentations. The etiology of the focal deficits was not ascertained because of the lack of tomodensitometry specific serolo gy and necropsy. Any neurological manifestation in a HIV seropositive patient should prompt investigations in order to diagnose those infections which can be treated e specially Toxoplasma gondii abscess and Cryptococcus neoformans meningitis.