Highlights

• Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) causes a microangiopathy known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) retinopathy.

• Opportunistic infections—such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, Pneumocystis jirovecii choroiditis, and Cryptococcus neoformans choroiditis—have become less common since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

• Immune recovery uveitis is intraocular sterile inflammation that occurs following CMV retinitis as the T-cell count improves with successful HIV therapy.

• Malignancies such as vitreoretinal lymphoma and Kaposi sarcoma are associated with AIDS.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is caused by HIV, which infects and results in the depletion of CD4⁺ helper T lymphocytes. This loss of CD4⁺ T lymphocytes causes profound immune deficiency with subsequent opportunistic infections. Refer to BCSC Section 1, Update on General Medicine, for a full discussion of HIV infection and AIDS.

Excerpted from BCSC 2020-2021 series: Section 9 - Uveitis and Ocular Inflammation. For more information and to purchase the entire series, please visit https://www.aao.org/bcsc.