Occult HIV infection: diagnosis and treatment of older patients.
The decrease in immune status that accompanies normal aging leaves individuals age 50 and older increasingly susceptible to the two main modes of HIV infection: sexual activity and blood transfusions. Although therapy for older HIV patients is essentially the same as for younger patients, knowledge of appropriate drug dosages and nutritional issues that influence the care of the older HIV patient is essential for physicians treating this population. Physicians need to recognize the clinical features of HIV-related dementia and opportunistic infections that distinguish it from other age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Known risk factors that affect older patients should influence physicians to routinely include HIV in their differential diagnoses.
Woolery
W A
WA
Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Mercer University, Macon, GA, USA.
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D065227:Transfusion Reaction
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents