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Comorbidity: Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy

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Encyclopedia of AIDS

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Introduction

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a progressive infection of the brain by reactivation of the JC virus that manifests clinically as a subacute decline in neurologic function in the setting of significant immune suppression. It was first named in 1958 after histological definition of autopsy cases. All patients suffered underlying lymphoproliferative disorders (Astrom et al. 1958). PML has since continued to be a rarely occurring complication of these diseases, such as myelodysplastic syndrome, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and Hodgkin disease. Reviewing the world’s publications through 1984 and adding cases from their own extensive experience, Brooks and Walker were only able to identify 230 cases (Brooks and Walker 1984). With the emergence of the HIV pandemic, PML became exponentially more common, typically emerging in the HIV-infected when CD4 counts waned below 200 cells/μL. In fact, it was diagnosed in 4% of the HIV-infected population (Berger et...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Division of Neurological Infections and Inflammatory Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 40 Fenwood Rd, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Jennifer L. Lyons

  2. Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Joseph R. Berger

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  1. Jennifer L. Lyons
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  2. Joseph R. Berger
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Correspondence to Jennifer L. Lyons .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Northwestern University, Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Thomas J. Hope

  2. VA San Diego Healthcare System and University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Douglas D. Richman

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Mario Stevenson

Section Editor information

  1. University of Pennsylvania, 415 Curie Blvd.; 280C Clinical Research Building, 19104/6146, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Dennis L Kolson

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Lyons, J.L., Berger, J.R. (2018). Comorbidity: Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy. In: Hope, T.J., Richman, D.D., Stevenson, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of AIDS. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7101-5_280

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