Renal Manifestations of HIV Infection
This chapter discusses renal manifestation of HIV-1 infection, which encompasses a spectrum of disorders and a diversity of clinical syndromes. They are often multifactoral in etiology, but a few very specific diseases are known to be direct consequences of HIV-1 infection in the kidney. The others appear to be renal manifestations of systemic complications of HIV-1 infection or are related to drug therapy. A useful approach to the diagnosis of kidney diseases in general is to distinguish between the syndromes of acute renal failure (ARF) and chronic renal insufficiency. ARF is a syndrome defined as an abrupt, detectable fall in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in an individual with otherwise stable kidney function. It is commonly encountered in the hospital setting, caused by combinations of tissue hypoperfusion, systemic infection, and the use of nephrotoxic drugs. Whereas, chronic renal insufficiency is more commonly encountered in the outpatient setting, and can be because of one of many specific disease entities.
