Revista de SIDA e investigación clínica

Acute Psychosis: An Atypical First Presentation of Advanced HIV Infection

Abstract

Nicholas Michael D’Ardenne, Eric Gluck and Panayiota Govas

Primary presentation of HIV/AIDS can be greatly varied, with continued emphasis on primary prevention and early detection of infection; there should be a decreasing number of atypical initial presentations. It has been shown that chronic disease results in an increased risk of people developing depression, and that psychiatric features may be the only symptoms of non-malignant brain lesions. These two points combined shows that there is a possibility that HIV, a chronic medical condition, could have a psychiatric presentation. This is atypical though, and therefore is an interesting teaching point, especially in the importance of ruling out organic conditions in the presentation of psychiatric diagnosis.