more precise figure of prevalence rates, the authors assessed the extent of HIV infection among elderly patients by retrieving excess serum samples from patients 60 years or older without a history of HIV infection who died during a one-year period at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City. Serum samples were tested for the presence of HIV antibodies and the charts of all those found to be infected with HIV were reviewed.
Findings of the study revealed that thirteen (5.05 percent) of 257 serum samples were HIV-antibody positive. Six (6.2 percent) of 92 men and seven (8.9 percent) of 78 women between the ages of 60 and 79 years were infected with HIV. In this group there was a trend toward more women having HIV infection. The death of none of the 13 patients with HIV infection was attributable to HIV infection.
Based on findings, it was concluded that elderly patients from certain high HIV seroprevalence communities may be at significant risk of HIV infection, and that the impact of this unrecognized infection on their health, their clinical outcome, and their treatment needs further evaluation. It was recommended that further studies of HIV seroprevalence among this population be conducted.
Symptoms and Characteristics. Whipple and Scura (1996)
report that, as with all cases of HIV/AIDS, symptoms and characteristics of the disease are typically found in the frequency, number and virulence of secondary infections. At least for a while, secondary infections can, of course, be treated with antibiotics and other agents. However, regarding older people with AIDS in particular, one of the most serious problems is HIV/AIDS dementia.
According to Whipple and Scura (1996), HIV/AIDS dementia affects approximately 25 percent of older HIV infected patients. In contrast to Alzheimer's disease, this condition tends to have has a rapid onset. It may cause extrapyramidal symptoms resembling parkinsonism without resting trem...