HIV-AIDS: The neurologic and cognitive consequences of HIV-1 infection

Abstract

Relatively speaking, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a recent epidemic and was only first identified in the mid 1980s. Since this time, it has become clear that HIV is an efficient negative moderator of host immune function with deadly consequences. In fact, it is estimated that nearly 60 million people have died from the consequences of the virus since the mid 1980s. Despite our current efforts at education and prevention, we continue to see increases in the number of new infections (2.5 million) each year with an estimated 33 million people throughout the world currently infected. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the brunt of the pandemic with more than half the world's infections occurring within the region (~25 million). With infections occurring across the globe, HIV truly is a global pandemic with significant economic, political, and social ramifications. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.