In their paper, 'Syphilitic retinitis and uveitis in HIV-positive adults', Hughes et al. present a detailed case series of 13 consecutive patients with syphilitic uveitis presenting over a 3-year period to two hospitals in Sydney, Australia. Six patients were HIV positive, and in this group retinitis occurred significantly more often than in the HIV-negative cohort (i.e. six of six HIV-positive vs. one of seven HIV-negative persons). Given the number of patients included, this case series is one of the more robust to appear in the recent literature on ocular syphilis. We look forward to the collection of more cases to confirm the reported association between HIV infection and syphilitic retinitis. If confirmed, this observation would have important diagnostic utility.
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