Author's Reply.

Sir,

We would like to thank Dr. Al-Mendalawi for his comments on our study.[1]

We fully agree that HIV cases in our retrospective study may have been underestimated and there were no cases of HIV-associated uveitis. The two cases mentioned by Dr. Al-Mendalawi in our series were human T-lymphotropic virus-1-associated uveitis and not HIV associated.

As reported in a study by Lee et al, there is low agreement among uveitis specialists regarding the optimal diagnostic testing plan for uveitis, which underlines the need for evidence-based guidelines.[2]

We believe that a uveitis work-up can be sufficiently derived from the patient's history, a review of systems, and a thorough physical examination. We do not believe in a shotgun diagnostic approach to uveitis laboratory testing. Certain conditions such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis are highly associated with HIV infection, and these patients should be investigated for HIV serology. In a retrospective study we conducted on CMV retinitis cases (unpublished data), an interesting finding was the absence of any HIV-positive patient with CMV retinitis. This may be indicative of the low incidence of HIV positivity in our region.

Financial Support and Sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of Interest

There are no conflicts of interest.