Fatal Outcome of Ilheus Virus in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of a Patient Diagnosed with Encephalitis.

Ilheus virus is an arbovirus with the potential for central nervous system involvement. Accurate diagnosis is a challenge due to similar clinical symptoms and serologic cross-reactivity with other flaviviruses. Here, we describe the first documented case of a fatal outcome following the identification of Ilheus virus in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a patient with cerebral encephalitis in Brazil.

Clinical Features, Diagnosis, and Outcome of Encephalitis in French Guiana.

The aim of our study was to describe the clinical features, the etiologies, and the factors associated with poor outcome of encephalitis in French Guiana. Our study was retrospective, including all cases of encephalitis hospitalized in the Cayenne General Hospital, from January 2007 to July 2017. Patients were included through the 2013 encephalitis consortium criteria and the outcome was evaluated using the Glasgow outcome scale at 3 months from the diagnosis of encephalitis. We included 108 patients, giving an approximate incidence rate of four cases/100,000 inhabitants/year. The origin of the encephalitis was diagnosed in 81 cases (75%), and 72 of them (66.7%) were from an infectious origin. The most common infectious causes were Cryptococcus sp. (18.5%) independently of the immune status, Toxoplasma gondii (13.9%), and Streptococcus pneumoniae (5.5%). In the follow-up, 48 patients (46.6%) had poor outcome. Independent risk factors associated with poor outcome at 3 months were "coming from inside area of the region" (P = 0.036, odds ratio [OR] = 4.19; CI 95% = 1.09-16.06), need for mechanical ventilation (P = 0.002, OR = 5.92; CI 95% = 1.95-17.95), and age ≥ 65 years (P = 0.049, OR = 3.99; CI 95% = 1.01-15.89). The most identified cause of encephalitis in French Guiana was Cryptococcus. The shape of the local epidemiology highlights the original infectious situation with some local specific pathogens.

The case of lethal encephalitis due to Chikungunya virus in immunosuppressed patient: a case report

"At present, there are limited data on the association of CHIKV severe manifestations in patients with comorbidities and immunosuppression. Some descriptions of correlations between severe manifestations and arboviruses co-infection have been described, which does not correspond to the herein described case.(19)˒(20) In the present study, we report on a immunocompromised patients due to underlying immunological disease and treatment with immunosuppressive drugs, who evolved with encephalitis after CHIKV infection. This case add significant data to the limited literature on the subject and raise further studies to corroborate this correlation, in order to identify risk groups for severe manifestations"

Traumatic Brain Injury and Infectious Encephalopathy in Children From Four Resource-Limited Settings in Africa.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the frequency, interventions, and outcomes of children presenting with traumatic brain injury or infectious encephalopathy in low-resource settings. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Four hospitals in Sub-Saharan Africa. PATIENTS: Children age 1 day to 17 years old evaluated at the hospital with traumatic brain injury or infectious encephalopathy. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We evaluated the frequency and outcomes of children presenting consecutively over 4 weeks to any hospital department with traumatic brain injury or infectious encephalopathy. Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category score was assessed pre morbidity and at hospital discharge. Overall, 130 children were studied (58 [45%] had traumatic brain injury) from hospitals in Ethiopia (n = 51), Kenya (n = 50), Rwanda (n = 20), and Ghana (n = 7). Forty-six percent had no prehospital care, and 64% required interhospital transport over 18 km (1-521 km). On comparing traumatic brain injury with infectious encephalopathy, there was no difference in presentation with altered mental state (80% vs 82%), but a greater proportion of traumatic brain injury cases had loss of consciousness (80% vs 53%; p = 0.004). Traumatic brain injury patients were older (median [range], 120 mo [6-204 mo] vs 13 mo [0.3-204 mo]), p value of less than 0.001, and more likely male (73% vs 51%), p value of less than 0.01. In 78% of infectious encephalopathy cases, cause was unknown. More infectious encephalopathy cases had a seizure (69% vs 12%; p < 0.001). In regard to outcome, infectious encephalopathy versus traumatic brain injury: hospital lengths of stay were longer for infectious encephalopathy (8 d [2-30 d] vs 4 d [1-36 d]; p = 0.003), discharge rate to home, or for inpatient rehabilitation, or death differed between infectious encephalopathy (85%, 1%, and 13%) and traumatic brain injury (79%, 12%, and 1%), respectively, p value equals to 0.044. There was no difference in the proportion of children surviving with normal or mild disability (73% traumatic brain injury vs 79% infectious encephalopathy; p = 0.526). CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiology and outcomes of pediatric traumatic brain injury and infectious encephalopathy varied by center and disease. To improve outcomes of these conditions in low-resource setting, focus should be on neurocritical care protocols for pre-hospital, hospital, and rehabilitative care.

Granulomatous cutaneous centrofacial and meningocerebral amebiasis.

A 7-year-old, otherwise healthy Peruvian boy presented with a 3-month history of an indurated centrofacial plaque. Histologic examination revealed a granuloma containing free-living amebae tentatively identified as Balamuthia mandrillaris. The patient failed to respond to tentative treatment. He was admitted to the intensive care unit 7 months later with neurologic manifestations of granulomatous amebic encephalitis, which proved fatal. The difficulty in diagnosing this rare presentation of cutaneous amebiasis, the challenge of treating the condition, and the morbidity and high mortality associated with cerebral involvement are discussed.

Lethal encephalitis in myeloid differentiation factor 88-deficient mice infected with herpes simplex virus 1.

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), a large DNA virus from the Herpesviridae family, is the major cause of sporadic lethal encephalitis and blindness in humans. Recent studies have shown the importance of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the immune response to HSV-1 infection. Myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) is a critical adaptor protein that is downstream to mediated TLR activation and is essential for the production of inflammatory cytokines. Here, we studied the relationship between MyD88 and HSV-1 using a purified HSV-1 isolated from a natural oral recurrent human infection. We observed the activation of TLR-2 by HSV-1 in vitro using Chinese hamster ovary cells stably transfected with a reporter gene. Interestingly, we found that only peritoneal macrophages from MyD88-/- mice, but not macrophages from TRL2-/- or from wild-type mice, were unable to produce tumor necrosis factor-alpha in response to HSV-1 exposure. Additionally, although TLR2-/- mice showed no enhanced susceptibility to intranasal infection with HSV-1, MyD88-/- mice were highly susceptible to infection and displayed viral migration to the brain, severe neuropathological signs of encephalitis, and 100% mortality by day 10 after infection. Together, our results suggest that innate resistance to HSV-1 is mediated by MyD88 and may rely on activation of multiple TLRs.

Toxoplasma encephalitis in AIDS patients in São Paulo during 1988 and 1991. A comparative retrospective analysis.

We conducted a retrospective analysis of Toxoplasma encephalitis patients from Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas, the main AIDS hospital of São Paulo, Brazil, during two different stages of the HIV epidemics, in 1988 (38 patients) and 1991 (33 patients). There were AIDS-related demographic differences, but the clinical presentation and diagnostic efficiency were similar, usually based on tomography and clinical response to therapy, with a clear distinction from other CNS infections, based on clinical and laboratory findings. Specific serologic studies were performed less often in 1991, with a high frequency of therapy change. The direct acute death rate from Toxoplasma encephalitis was high during both periods, i.e. 8/38 in 1988 and 10/33 in 1991. The direct acute death rate for the patients from the two periods as a whole was 25.4% (18/71), related to the time of HIV infection, absence of fever and presence of meningeal irritation at presentation, blood leukocytes higher than 10,000/mm3 and blood lymphocytes lower than 350/mm3. Toxoplasma encephalitis is a preventable disease when adequate prophylactic therapy is used and is relatively easy to treat in diagnosed HIV patients. Unfortunately, this severe and deadly disorder is the HIV diagnostic disease in several patients, and our data support the need for careful management of these patients, especially in those countries with a high toxoplasmosis prevalence where AIDS is concurrent with economic and public health problems.

Toxoplasma encephalitis in AIDS patients in São Paulo during 1988 and 1991: a comparative retrospective analysis

We conducted a retrospective analysis of Toxoplasma encephalitis patients from Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas, the main AIDS hospital of São Paulo, Brazil, during two different stages of the HIV epidemics, in 1988 (38 patients) and 1991 (33 patients). There were AIDS-related demographic differences, but the clinical presentation and diagnostic efficiency were similar, usually based on tomography and clinical response to therapy, with a clear distinction from other CNS infections, based on clinical and laboratory findings. Specific serologic studies were performed less often in 1991, with a high frequency of therapy change. The direct acute death rate from Toxoplasma encephalitis was high during both periods, i.e. 8/38 in 1988 and 10/33 in 1991. The direct acute death rate for the patients from the two periods as a whole was 25.4 percent (18/71), related to the time of HIV infection, absence of fever and presence of meningeal irritation at presentation, blood leukocytes higher than 10,000/mm3 and blood lymphocytes lower than 350/mm3. Toxoplasma encephalitis is a preventable disease when adequate prophylactic therapy is used and is relatively easy to treat in diagnosed HIV patients. Unfortunately, this severe and deadly disorder is the HIV diagnostic disease in several patients, and our data support the need for careful management of these patients, especially in those countries with a high toxoplasmosis prevalence where AIDS is concurrent with economic and public health problems.

Prevalencia da Encefalite por Toxoplasma em pacientes com SIDA no Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre / Prevalence of toxoplasmic encephalitis in patients eith AIDS in Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre

Com o objetivo de determinar a prevalencia da encefalite por toxoplasma (ET) em pacientes com SIDA, em nosso meio, bem como descrever o perfil sorologico antitoxoplasma desta populacao, revisaram-se 313 prontuarios de pacientes portadores do virus da imunodeficiencia humana (VIH) internados entre maio/85 e dezembro/89. A prevalencia presuntiva (por achados tomograficos) foi de 8,9% (28 casos). Em 192 pacientes foram dosados anticorpos antitoxoplasma (IgG) no sangue; destes 65,6% foram reagentes. Vinte e sete pacientes com ET tinham dosagem de anticorpos antitoxoplasma no sangue, sendo 26 reagentes. Quinze pacientes com ET tinham dosagem de anticorpos antitoxoplasma no sangue, sendo 26 reagentes. Quinze pacientes com ET tinham dosagem de anticorpos antitoxoplasma no liquor sendo 14 reagentes. Concluimos que a prevalencia da ET, em pacientes com SIDA, em nosso meio, e semelhante a descrita na literatura, e que maiores esforcos se devem empregar para a obtencao de material (por biopsia ou necropsia)a fim de firmar o diagnostico definitivo

Immediate causes of death in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

We evaluated the immediate causes of death in 54 adults who underwent an autopsy and were diagnosed as having died of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome between April 1980 and October 1983. The study group included 25 Haitians, 19 homosexual men, five intravenous drug abusers, two hemophiliacs (type A), and three with no known risk. Fourteen died of central nervous system diseases: 11 of Toxoplasma encephalitis, one of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, one of viral encephalitis, and one of intracerebral hemorrhage. Thirty died of respiratory failure; 16 of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, ten of cytomegalovirus pneumonia, one of multiple infections, one of interstitial pneumonia, and two of bacterial pneumonia. Two died of overwhelming generalized infections: one of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare and one of listeriosis. Six died of disseminated Kaposi's sarcoma, while the remaining two persons died of Toxoplasma myocarditis (one) and one of shock resulting from a percutaneous liver biopsy, respectively. There were differences in the immediate causes of death between Haitians and homosexuals as follows: 63% of homosexual men died of either P carinii pneumonia or Kaposi's sarcoma vs 20% of Haitians. In contrast, 72% of Haitians died of other opportunistic infections as compared with 21% of homosexuals. There has not been an increase in the proportion of cases diagnosed premortem since 1982 and overall, only 32 (58%) were diagnosed premortem; the rest were diagnosed only at autopsy. This study provided evidence that 42% died of currently untreatable diseases.

Cerebral perfusion pressure in central nervous system infections of infancy and childhood.

Central nervous system infections may be complicated by development of severe brain edema, which can be a significant factor in mortality and morbidity. Increased intracranial pressure can cause additional damage to the central nervous system by impairment of cerebral blood flow, which is dependent on cerebral perfusion pressure. A reduction of cerebral perfusion pressure, caused by elevation of intracranial pressure, may cause cerebral ischemia. We studied cerebral perfusion pressure in 17 patients, ages 45 days to 11 years, with severe central nervous system infections and who were in deep coma. Meningitis was diagnosed in 64.7%, and encephalitis in 29.4%. The patients who survived (64.7%) did not differ significantly from those who died (36.5%) in severity of disease and maximal intracranial pressure during the course of the illness. A striking difference in minimal cerebral perfusion pressure recorded was found between survivors and nonsurvivors: all patients with minimal cerebral perfusion pressure greater than 30 mm Hg survived, whereas those with lower pressure died. In survivors, cerebral perfusion pressure could be maintained adequately by reduction of intracranial pressure, but nonsurvivors developed noncompliance of brain tissue, and cerebral perfusion pressure could not be maintained at levels that ensure adequate cerebral blood flow, resulting in cerebral ischemia and death. Continuous monitoring of mean arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure in children with severe central nervous system infections will enable rapid diagnosis and initiation of treatment when cerebral perfusion pressure is reduced to critical levels. Such treatment might improve the prognosis.