Localization of retrovirus in the central nervous system of a patient co-infected with HTLV-1 and HIV with HAM/TSP and HIV-associated dementia

Persons co-infected with HTLV-1 and HIV are at increased risk for neurologi c disease. These patients may develop HAM/TSP and/or HIV-associated dementi a. In this study, we localized cells infected with retrovirus in the centra l nervous system (CNS) of a patient with both HAM/TSP and HIV associated de mentia. HTLV-1 was localized to astrocytes and HIV to macrophage/microglia. There was no co-infection of a single cell phenotype in this patient. Thes e data suggest that mechanisms other than co-infection of the same CNS cell may play a role in the development of neurologic disease in patients dual infected with HTLV-1 and HIV.