HIV patients can live long enough to develop Alzheimers, dementia and other brain disorders as HIV-positive patients turn 65-years-old.

Up until April 19, people widely believed HIV patients were immune to Alzheimers. A study at Georgetown University in Washington shows a 71-year-old man who was diagnosed with dementia actually has Alzheimers. The study proved that 30-50 percent of neurological symptoms associated to the virus could instead be signs of Alzheimers.

Neurologist R. Scott Turner, who published the study, believes it’s possible for HIV patients to be misdiagnosed with dementia.
“The medical community assumes that dementia with HIV is caused by HAND [HIV-associated neurological disorders]. Physicians haven’t considered Alzheimers, so it’s possible that a number of older HIV-positive individuals may be misdiagnosed,” Turner said.
With over 53,000 people living with HIV in the US that are over the age of 65, Director of the National HIV/AIDS Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, Jeffrey Crowley believes the study creates new opportunities for other clinical trials.
“This finding must lead to additional population-based studies, as well as timely clinical and programmatic interventions to better support individuals with HIV who are facing neurological decline,” Crowley said.
Both diseases cause a neurological decline, however the treatments differ and is the first critical step.
“For Alzheimer’s disease, we now have four FDA-approved drugs and more effective treatments are on the way. For HAND, we prescribe anti-retroviral drugs that have a better chance of penetrating the brain,” Turner said.
Worldwide more than 37 million people are living with HIV, and the average number of people with Alzheimers is expected to double in the next 10 years.