Vitamin B12 Deficiency Megaloblastic Anemia in a Patient with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Bongyoung Kim; Jieun Kim; Soonwoo Hwang; Yuhwa Lee; Junghwan Park; Shinje Moon; Jiyoung Choi; Juneseok Song; Jongheon Jeong; Hyunjoo Pai

doi:10.3947/ic.2011.43.3.266

Journal List > Infect Chemother > v.43(3) > 1035090

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Kim, Kim, Hwang, Lee, Park, Moon, Choi, Song, Jeong, and Pai: Vitamin B12 Deficiency Megaloblastic Anemia in a Patient with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Case Report

Infection & Chemotherapy

Infection & Chemotherapy 2011; 43(3): 266-269.

Published online: 29 June 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2011.43.3.266

Vitamin B12 Deficiency Megaloblastic Anemia in a Patient with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Bongyoung Kim, Jieun Kim, Soonwoo Hwang, Yuhwa Lee, Junghwan Park, Shinje Moon, Jiyoung Choi, Juneseok Song, Jongheon Jeong, Hyunjoo Pai

Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Correspondence to Hyunjoo Pai, MD. Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, 17 Haengdang-dong, Seoungdong-gu, Seoul 133-792, Korea. Tel: +82-2-2290-8356, Fax: +82-2-2298-9183, paihj@hanyang.ac.kr

Received 24 December 2010 Revised 18 March 2011 Accepted 24 March 2011

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Anemia is the most common hematologic finding in patients with advanced infections caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or advanced acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Among many etiologies of HIV-associated anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency plays an important role, mostly due to malabsorption or HIV enteropathy. We experienced a case of megaloblastic anemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency in a male patient with an AIDS who had no structural gastrointestinal problem. He showed severe anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and suspicious neurologic manifestations such as aggravation of dementia and gait disturbance. With vitamin B12 and folate treatment, the patient's general condition and hematologic features were improved successfully.

Keywords: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Megaloblastic anemia, Vitamin B12

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