[Clinical and virological correlation between the cerebrospinal fluid and blood of HIV-infected children].

Background: Although the neurological manifestations of HIV infection occur at any age, children with perinatal AIDS are affected earlier and with greater impact. There are no published data about a potential association between HIV encephalopathy and viral load in THE CSF OF the pediatric population.

Design: Twenty-three children, aged 7 months to 10 years, were studied as part of a multicenter international study that evaluated double versus triple antiretroviral therapy. Samples of CSF and plasma were collected for HIV RNA measurements on day 0 and on follow-up weeks 8, 16, and 48. Neurological assessments, psychological evaluations, and CT scans were done on admission and at study end. Viral isolates were processed for genotypic resistance.

Results: No correlation between viral load in CSF and plasma was detected at study onset. Eighty percent of children had >2 log HIV RNA in CSF at day 0 but only 30% at week 16. Eight subjects responded favorably to therapy and their CSF had undetectable viral load during follow-up determinations. On day 0, 72% of children had identical patterns of genotypic resistance in CSF and plasma samples. At week 48, however, only 11% of these subjects had identical patterns. On day 0, 83% of children had abnormal neurological findings but these alterations declined to 35% at week 48 (p = 0.004). Most children with neurological abnormalities had detectable CSF viral loads (65% vs 17%, p = 0.04).

Conclusions: The data generated in this study suggest that CSF and plasma behave as two different body compartments in terms of HIV dynamics and resistance mutants. Presence of neurological abnormalities correlate with detection of HIV in CSF and these alterations improve as therapy decreases CSF viral load. These results underscore the importance of using ARV drugs with good CNS penetration for optimal management of HIV-infected young children.