Neuropathy in HIV infection

Peripheral nerve complications in patients infected with HIV usually result from the virus itself, or are due to some of the antiretroviral drugs (zal citabine, didanosine or stavudine), It may be difficult to distinguish betw een these two aetiologies on clinical or neurophysiological criteria, Since they are a significant cause of morbidity, a number of studies have looked at agents used for symptomatic control. More recently, there has been a fo cus on treatments that improve nerve function, including recombinant human nerve growth factor and the reduction of HIV viral load with antiretroviral drugs. Curr Opin Neurol 13:589-592. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins .