Polyneuropathy associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection

We report five patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in stages IV-C1, IV-C2 and IV-D who developed peripheral polyneuropathy (PNP). Two patients had invalidating PNP with a demyelinating predominance, while in the remaining three axonal component predominated. However, both components were present in different degrees in all patients. We have observed two cases with transition from one type of PNP to the other during the course of the disease. Inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy usually develops in the initial stages of the infection, while the distal axonal type is more commonly seen in patients with advanced infection. The possibility that PNP could have, in these patients, a common etiology and pathogenesis with variable clinical and electrophysiological expression is discussed.