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1: J Antimicrob Chemother. 2006 Feb;57(2):167-70. Epub 2005 Dec 14.Click here to read Links
Comment in:
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2006 Nov;58(5):1094; author reply 1094-5.

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome: more answers, more questions.

Shelburne SA, Montes M, Hamill RJ.

Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, and Department of Medicine, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

The institution of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-infected patients restores protective immune responses against a wide variety of pathogens and dramatically decreases mortality. In a subset of patients receiving HAART, immune reconstitution is associated with a pathological inflammatory response leading to substantial short-term morbidity and even mortality. The past several years have seen marked advances in our clinical understanding of the immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), but many questions remain. This article summarizes recent data on clinical risk factors for the development of IRIS. A consistent finding from multiple groups is that IRIS develops in a substantial percentage of HIV-infected patients who have an underlying opportunistic infection and receive HAART. As the use of HAART stands to markedly increase over the next several years, optimal care of patients receiving HAART will need to incorporate monitoring for and treating complications of IRIS.

PMID: 16354748 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]