HIV is 'double hit' to brain

“It’s a double hit to the brain,” added collaborator Marcus Kaul, who is also of the Burnham Institute and UCSD. “The HIV protein both causes brain injury and prevents its repair.”

Physicians first recognized that HIV infection could lead to a profound form of dementia—most commonly in those with an advanced stage of the disease—early on. The success of antiretroviral therapies in keeping the “viral load” down has helped to reduce the severity of the dementia in recent years.

Nonetheless, the prevalence is rising as HIV-infected people are living longer. The anti-HIV drugs don’t infiltrate the brain well, allowing for a “secret reservoir” of virus, Lipton explained. Such persistent exposure of the central nervous system to HIV is a major risk factor for the development of HIV-associated dementia.
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