[Emergencies in HIV infection].

Emergencies in HIV-infected patients are a common complication which may occur at any stage of the disease. Opportunistic infections may lead to irreversible damages of organs such as the brain, the eye or the lung. With the widely use of antiretroviral therapy side effects of reverse transcriptease inhibitors and proteinase inhibitors and drug interactions are frequent causes of severe symptoms such as nausea and diarrhoea or of complications such as anaemia or leucopenia. As with Non-HIV-associated emergencies empiric therapy may be necessary to treat patients to prevent severe organ damage.