HIV Dementia Alarmingly High in Africa

A U.S.-led international study finds the rate of HIV-related dementia is so high in Africa it might be among the world’s most common forms of dementia.

In the first study of HIV dementia on Africat, researchers led by Johns Hopkins University scientists found HIV dementia rates are challenging Alzheimer’s and stroke dementia worldwide.

The scientists, using rigorous neurological and neuropsychological tests, found 31 percent of a small but presumably representative group of HIV-positive patients in Uganda were found to have HIV dementia, according to Dr. Ned Sacktor, a Johns Hopkins neurologist and senior author of a multi-institutional study.

HIV dementia is defined as memory, learning, behavioral and motor disabilities that interfere with normal daily life and, in extreme cases, leading to total disability and a bedridden state.

Unlike Alzheimer’s and stroke-induced dementia, HIV dementia is treatable and potentially reversible with the same antiretroviral medication that is used to treat the infection, Sacktor said. Treatment can even restore completely normal cognitive function to some of those affected.

The study is detailed in the current issue of the journal Neurology.