Inclusion body myositis and HIV infection.

Dr. Marcos R. Gomes de Freitas – Rua Gastão Ruch 16 / 1402 24220-100 Niterói RJ Brasil. E-mail: [email protected] Neurological disorders are frequent complications of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection, and include central nervous system (CNS) infections, neoplasm, vascular complications, peripheral neuropathies, and myopathies. Early series emphasized CNS diseases, with relative few reports of primary disorders of peripheral nerve and muscle. Myopathy may occur at any time during the course of HIV infection and is not associated with any particular stage of immunosuppression. Before the introduction of zidovudine (azidothymidine, AZT) for the treatment of AIDS, muscle disease was considered a rare complication of HIV, found in less than 1% of cases of AIDS. A variety of muscular disorders has been described in HIV infected patients: polymyositis, myopathy induced by nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI), such as zidovudine, opportunistic infections including toxoplasmosis, infiltration by tumour, HIV associated vasculitis, and rhabdomyolysis caused by HIV itself or by drugs including didanosine. A myopathy in every respect similar to inclusion body myositis (IBM) is observed in rare patients infected by HIV-1 or human T-cell leukaemia virus type 1(HTLV-1). IBM is a chronic inflammatory muscle disease, and the typical clinical findings are muscle weakness and atrophy, most prominent in the quadriceps muscles and the wrist and finger flexors. We report a case of a male patient, who presented with signs and symptoms of IBM in association with HIV infection.