HIV-associated tuberculous meningitis – diagnostic and therapeutic challenges

SummaryHIV-associated tuberculous meningitis (TBM) poses significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges and carries a dismal prognosis. In this review, we present the clinical features and management of HIV-associated TBM, and compare this to disease in HIV-uninfected individuals. Although the clinical presentation, laboratory findings and radiological features of TBM are similar in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected patients, some important differences exist. HIV-infected patients present more frequently with extra-meningeal tuberculosis and systemic features of HIV infection. In HIV-associated TBM, clinical course and outcome are influenced by profound immunosuppression at presentation, emphasising the need for earlier diagnosis of HIV infection and initiation of antiretroviral treatment.