A rare case of HIV CNS escape in a patient previously considered a viral controller

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) levels generally remain undetectable in the cerebrospinal fluid of people living with HIV with peripheral viral suppression. Secondary HIV central nervous system (CNS) escape refers to the rare independent replication of HIV RNA in the central nervous system despite peripheral viral suppression that occurs in the setting of a concomitant non-HIV infection. We describe here a young man with perinatal HIV infection considered a viral controller who developed secondary HIV CNS escape in the setting of a presumed fungal CNS infection.