HIV patients now living long enough to develop Alzheimer's

The first case of Alzheimer's disease diagnosed in a person with HIV highlights the fact that long-time HIV survivors are starting to reach ages where their risk for Alzheimer's increases.The 71-year-old man was diagnosed after a medical scan revealed amyloid protein clumps in his brain. Until now, it was believed that HIV-related inflammation in the brain might prevent the formation of such clumps and thereby protect these people from Alzheimer's.

"This patient may be a sentinel case that disputes what we thought we knew about dementia in HIV-positive individuals," said study author Dr. R. Scott Turner. He is head of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The case also suggests that some older people with HIV and dementia may be misdiagnosed with HIV-associated brain disorders, but actually have Alzheimer's disease. It's also possible that some older people with HIV have both HIV-associated brain disorders and Alzheimer's, according to Turner.
"Chronic HIV infection and amyloid deposition with aging may represent a 'double-hit' to the brain that results in progressive dementia," he said in a university news release. Correct diagnosis is important because there are different treatments for HIV-related brain disorders and Alzheimer's, Turner noted. As of 2013, there were 53,000 HIV-positive people in the United States who were 65 and older, the age range when Alzheimer's disease risk begins to rise, according to the researchers. That number is expected to double in less than 10 years and does not include people who have not been diagnosed. ■

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