title: Acute and regressive encephalopathy coincident with transient isolation of human immunodeficiency virus from cerebrospinal fluid of a seropositive man.
abstract: We observed the development of an acute encephalopathy in a healthy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositive man. HIV was isolated from cerebrospinal fluid but not from peripheral blood. Signs and symptoms resolved quickly without treatment. This viral isolate could be propagated only in blood cord lymphocytes, but not in peripheral blood T-lymphocytes or in continuous lymphoblastoid cell lines such as CEM. The absence of the virus in the patient's T-lymphocytes or infectivity of the virus for T-lymphocytes may explain the unusual presentation of HIV-associated encephalopathy without immunodeficiency in an asymptomatic carrier. Moreover, it raises the possibility that acute expression of HIV can be controlled by natural host defence mechanisms and that clinical manifestations may be reversible despite the patient's remaining seropositive.
authors.affiliation: Clinique de Neurologie et de Neuropsychologie, Hôpital de la Salpétrière, Paris, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gout
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rouquette
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tournier-Lasserve
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barre-Sinoussi
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lyon-Caen
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Chermann
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D000328:Adult; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000382:microbiology*; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006678:HIV / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology