Subacute thyroiditis and HIV infection: Case report and literature review

Abstract

This case report is on Subacute thyroiditis (SAT) with thyrotoxicosis in a 22year-old housewife . She had been married for 2years to a long-distance driver. She presented with a fever and neurological features which were followed by features of SAT such as pain and difficulty in swallowing, swelling of the anterior aspect of the neck, palpitations, shaking of the body, tenderness over the neck, coarse tremors of the hands and worsening of fever. She appeared depressed and was restless. The fever with the neurological features (lower motor neurone lesion of the facial nerve) suggested a form of viraemia, which could have been from any virus. HIV infection was confirmed in this patient but there was no weight loss, no diarrhoea nor lymphadenopathy. This suggests a probable viraemia of seroconversion of HIV infection. There were also no features of other infections or other diseases. This case report may suggest an aetiological association between HIV and subacute thyroiditis. However, HIV has not been reported before as an aetiology of subacute thyroiditis.

Jos Journal of Medicine, Volume 7 No. 2