Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Uveitis

Viruses. 2023 Feb 5;15(2):444. doi: 10.3390/v15020444.

Abstract

Uveitis is one of the most common ocular complications in people living with the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and can be classified into HIV-induced uveitis, co-infection related uveitis, immune recovery uveitis, and drug-induced uveitis. The introduction of antiretroviral therapy has considerably changed the incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of different types of HIV-related uveitis. Furthermore, the specific immune condition of patients infected with HIV makes diagnosing HIV-related uveitis difficult. Recent studies have focused on the growing prevalence of syphilis/tuberculosis co-infection in uveitis. Simultaneously, more studies have demonstrated that HIV can directly contribute to the incidence of uveitis. However, the detailed mechanism has not been studied. Immune recovery uveitis is diagnosed by exclusion, and recent studies have addressed the role of biomarkers in its diagnosis. This review highlights recent updates on HIV-related uveitis. Furthermore, it aims to draw the attention of infectious disease physicians and ophthalmologists to the ocular health of patients infected with HIV.

Keywords: HIV-related uveitis; human immunodeficiency virus; opportunistic infections; uveitis.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Coinfection* / epidemiology
  • Eye
  • HIV
  • HIV Infections* / complications
  • HIV Infections* / drug therapy
  • HIV Infections* / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Uveitis* / diagnosis
  • Uveitis* / epidemiology
  • Uveitis* / etiology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (grant no. JP 20K09824), a Grant on Rare and Intractable Diseases from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (grant no. 22FC0201), and a Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Disease grant form Japan Agency for Medical and Development, AMED (grant no. JP21fk0108124j).