HIV/AIDS-related cardiomyopathy is a relatively recent concern. Only in the last decade, thanks to antiretroviral therapy, have human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV 1) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) become chronic, at least in the developed world. For this reason, and because of confounding factors (comorbidity, the iatrogenic impact of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) and widely differing study populations, some major issues remain unresolved: the prevalence of cardiomyopathy in HIV infection (figures range from zero to 10%), the cellular target of HIV (cardiomyocytes lack CD4 receptors), and the specific impact, if any, of cardiac HIV infection. However, there is now strong evidence, found in around half of autopsy cases, that underlying the cardiomyopathy is a myocarditis resulting from interaction between cytokines and HIV structural proteins...