RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: The etiological diagnosis of infectious encephalitis is often not established 48hours after onset. We aimed to review existing literature data before providing management guidelines. METHOD: We performed a literature search on PubMed using filters such as "since 01/01/2000", "human", "adults", "English or French", and "clinical trial/review/guidelines". We also used the Mesh search terms "encephalitis/therapy" and "encephalitis/diagnosis". RESULTS: With Mesh search terms "encephalitis/therapy" and "encephalitis/diagnosis", we retrieved 223 and 258 articles, respectively. With search terms "encephalitis and corticosteroid", we identified 38 articles, and with "encephalitis and doxycycline" without the above-mentioned filters we identified 85 articles. A total of 210 articles were included in the analysis. DISCUSSION: Etiological investigations must focus on recent travels, animal exposures, age, immunodeficiency, neurological damage characteristics, and potential extra-neurological signs. The interest of a diagnosis of encephalitis for which there is no specific treatment is also to discontinue any empirical treatments initially prescribed. Physicians must consider and search for autoimmune encephalitis.
Asunto(s)
Encefalitis Infecciosa/terapia , Adulto , Antiinfecciosos/uso terapéutico , Enfermedades Autoinmunes del Sistema Nervioso/diagnóstico , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Manejo de la Enfermedad , Humanos , Encefalitis Infecciosa/líquido cefalorraquídeo , Encefalitis Infecciosa/diagnóstico , Factores de TiempoRESUMEN
We performed a literature search in the Medline database, using the PubMed website. The incidence of presumably infectious encephalitis is estimated at 1.5-7 cases/100,000 inhabitants/year, excluding epidemics. Infectious encephalitis and immune-mediated encephalitis share similar clinical signs and symptoms. The latter accounts for a significant proportion of presumably infectious encephalitis cases without any established etiological diagnosis; as shown from a prospective cohort study where 21% of cases were due to an immune cause. Several infectious agents are frequently reported in all studies: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is the most frequent pathogen in 65% of studies, followed by Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in several studies. Enteroviruses are also reported; being the most frequent viruses in two studies, and the 2nd or 3rd viruses in five other studies. There are important regional differences, especially in case of vector-borne transmission: Asia and the Japanese encephalitis virus, Eastern and Northern Europe/Eastern Russia and the tick-borne encephalitis virus, Northern America and Flavivirus or Alphavirus. Bacteria can also be incriminated: Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes are the most frequent, after HSV and VZV, in a French prospective study. The epidemiology of encephalitis is constantly evolving. Epidemiological data may indicate the emergence and/or dissemination of new causative agents. The dissemination and emergence of causative agents are fostered by environmental, social, and economical changes, but prevention programs (vaccination, vector controls) help reduce the incidence of other infectious diseases and associated encephalitis (e.g., measles).
Asunto(s)
Encefalitis Infecciosa/epidemiología , Adulto , Animales , Infecciones Bacterianas/epidemiología , Niño , Estudios Transversales , Exposición a Riesgos Ambientales , Francia/epidemiología , Salud Global , Humanos , Huésped Inmunocomprometido , Incidencia , Encefalitis Infecciosa/etiología , Enfermedades Parasitarias/epidemiología , Vacunación , Virosis/epidemiología , Virosis/transmisión , ZoonosisRESUMEN
Kikuchi-Fujimoto's disease (KFD) or histiocytic narcotising lymphadenitis is a febrile benign lymphadenopathy of unknown etiology, involving more frequently cervical lymph nodes and diagnosed on biopsy of an affected node. It is sometimes associated with auto-immune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However less frequent symptoms including involvement of extracervical nodes, hepatosplenomegaly and systemic symptoms (weight loss, night sweats) are possible and suggest an infectious disease. We report the case of a Senegalese patient with positive Ag HBs who developed SLE and KFD mimicking tuberculosis. Atypical pseudo-infectious appearance of an inflammatory systemic disease is a rare occurrence and the diagnosis can be difficult.