Fits, feet and HIV: lessons from a case of coexisting epilepsy and neuropathy in a patient with perinatally acquired HIV-1 infection

BMJ Case Rep. 2018 Oct 16:2018:bcr2018226042. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2018-226042.

Abstract

An 18-year-old black African man with well-controlled perinatally acquired HIV-1 was diagnosed in late adolescence with the unrelated diagnoses of Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A (CMT1A), epilepsy due to polymicrogyria and subsequently developed severe depression. The CMT1A diagnosis occurred after transfer of care from a local paediatric HIV service to a tertiary paediatric referral centre and was precipitated by recognition of a history and neurological signs not typically associated with perinatal HIV. The case resulted in the establishment of a quarterly combined paediatric HIV and paediatric neurology multidisciplinary team clinic to assess children and adolescents living with HIV with neurological symptoms.

Keywords: Hiv / Aids; child and adolescent psychiatry (paediatrics); neurology; neuromuscular disease; peripheral nerve disease.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Aftercare
  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease / diagnosis*
  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease / genetics
  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease / physiopathology
  • Depression / diagnosis
  • Depression / drug therapy
  • Epilepsy / diagnosis*
  • Epilepsy / drug therapy
  • Epilepsy / etiology
  • Foot / pathology*
  • Foot / surgery
  • HIV Infections / complications
  • HIV Infections / diagnosis*
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy
  • HIV Infections / virology
  • HIV-1 / isolation & purification
  • Humans
  • Interdisciplinary Communication
  • Male
  • Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / complications
  • Polymicrogyria / diagnostic imaging
  • Treatment Outcome