[Cytomegalovirus retinitis despite normal CD4 levels in an HIV patient. Report of a case].

We report the case of a 54-year-old HIV-seropositive man who was referred to us with unilateral uveitis. The patient had been taking triple antiretroviral therapy (three reverse transcriptase inhibitors) for one week when he presented with blurring of vision in the left eye. Two weeks later, active cytomegalovirus retinitis was suspected after fundus examination and ganciclovir was immediately administered. Even if the CD4 cell count was normal (423/microliter), the diagnosis was confirmed by the presence of CMV in the anterior chamber. This case shows that an elevated CD4 count is not incompatible with CMV retinitis, especially at the beginning of the antiretroviral therapy.