ABSTRACT
Central nervous system infections are a medical emergency, due to their high fatality and sequelae. Timely treatment is essential, and should be initially indicated empirically by clinical guidance, without microbiological certainty. Hence the importance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis as an etiological and therapeutic guide in the crucial initial hours of management. We report a 57-year-old woman consulting for fever and altered mental status. A brain CAT scan was normal. A lumbar puncture disclosed a CSF with predominance of neutrophils. Suspecting a bacterial meningitis, antimicrobial treatment was started but 48 hours after, the patient did not improve. A new lumbar puncture disclosed a CSF with predominance of lymphocytes. The lymphocyte shift prompted a PCR that was positive for herpes virus. The patient was treated with acyclovir with a good evolution.
Subject(s)
Humans , Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex/cerebrospinal fluid , Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex/drug therapy , Anti-Infective Agents/therapeutic use , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Acyclovir/therapeutic use , LymphocytesABSTRACT
Herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSE) is a common form of viral encephalitis, often with a single-phase course. A case of HSE with abnormal mental behavior as the main manifestation, admitted in Peking University Shenzhen Hospital in Octorber 2020, which improved after sufficient antiviral treatment was reported. After 2 months, abnormal mental behavior with memory deterioration recurred. It was considered as anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antibody combined with anti-glutamic decarboxylase antibody double-positive encephalitis, and improved after rituximab treatment. At present, there is no clinical report of such double antibody positive autoimmune encephalitis secondary to HSE. The purpose of this case report is to raise clinician awareness of post-HSE autoimmune encephalitis.
ABSTRACT
Objective To report the clinical and neuroimaging features in three cases of neurosyphilis with mesiotemporal lobe lesions; and to discuss possible pathogenesis and differential diagnosis.Methods The clinical manifestations,laboratory examinations,neuroimaging features,differential diagnosis and curative effect of 3 cases of neurosyphilis with mesiotemporal lobe lesions were analyzed retrospectively.The possible pathogenesis was discussed.Results All of 3 cases had positive and high titer index of syphilis in both serum and cerebrospinal fluid.The onset symptom was abnormal cognitive functions with acute aggravation or rapid progression.Cerebrospinal fluid analysis implied lymphocyte predominant inflammatory reaction with increased protein.Electroencephalography showed localized slow waves as to the lesions.On brain magnetic resonance imaging,unilateral or asymmetrical bilateral mesiotemporal lobe was affected with long T2 signal.Herpes simplex virus encephalitis and paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis should beconsidered in differential diagnosis.The symptoms and laboratory indexes improved significantly after anti-syphilis treatment.Conclusions Neurosyphilis should be evaluatedin a patient with onset of abnormal cognitive functions and having mesiotemporal lobe lesions on magnetic resonance imaging.Promptly diagnosis and early treatment could achieve good prognosis.
ABSTRACT
CONTEXT: Meningoencephalitis early in life, of any etiology, is a risk factor for development of subsequent sequelae, which may be of physical, psychiatric, behavioral or cognitive origin. Anomia is a language abnormality frequently found in such cases, and other language deficits are rarely described. The aim of this study was to describe the cognitive and linguistic manifestations following a case of herpetic meningoencephalitis in a 13-year-old patient with eight years of schooling. CASE REPORT: The patient underwent a speech-language audiology assessment nine months after the neurological diagnosis. The battery of tests included the Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment test protocol (MT Beta-86, modified), the description from the Cookie Theft task of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE), an informal assessment of the patient's logical and mathematical reasoning, and the neuropsychological subtests from the WAIS-III scale, which assess working memory. The patient presented mixed aphasia, impairment of short-term memory and working memory, and dyscalculia. This case also presented severe cognitive and linguistic deficits. Prompt diagnosis is crucial, in order to enable timely treatment and rehabilitation of this neurological infection and minimize the cognitive deficits caused by the disease.
CONTEXTO: Meningoencefalite em idade precoce, de qualquer etiologia, é fator de risco para o desenvolvimento de sequelas posteriores, que podem ser de origem física, psíquica, comportamental ou cognitiva. Anomia é uma manifestação linguística frequente nesses casos e outras alterações de linguagem raramente são descritas. O objetivo do estudo foi descrever as manifestações linguísticas e cognitivas pós-meningoencefalite herpética de um paciente com 13 anos de idade e oito anos de escolaridade. RELATO DE CASO: O paciente passou por avaliação fonoaudiológica nove meses após o diagnóstico neurológico. A bateria de avaliação incluiu o Protocolo de Avaliação de Linguagem Montreal Toulouse (MT Beta-86 modificado), a descrição da prancha Roubo dos Biscoitos do Teste de Boston para o diagnóstico da afasia, avaliação informal do raciocínio lógico-matemático e os subtestes neuropsicológicos da escala WAIS-III que avaliam a memória de trabalho. O paciente apresentou afasia mista, alteração da memória de curto prazo e da memória de trabalho e discalculia. Apresentou também alterações cognitivas e linguísticas graves. O diagnóstico precoce tem fundamental importância para o tratamento oportuno e a reabilitação dessa infecção neurológica e também para minimizar as alterações cognitivas causadas pela doença.