ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the progress made so far in clarifying the pathological features of HIV associated brain disorders and the clinical manifestations. It has been assumed that the HIV specific disorders, especially HIV encephalitis, underlie the clinical dementia. It is proposed that neurotoxicity may be either due to direct neural injury by the virus, or indirect injury mediated by the production of factors from either macrophages, microglial cells and possibly astrocytes. The ultimate aim of understanding the development and cause of the brain damage is to clarify the aetiology of the progressive dementing illness associated with HIV infection. There is AIDS dementia complex, this is divided into four stages which are wide, may be difficult to define, and dependent on subjective assessment.
