Herpes encephalitis
clinical, laboratory and early electroencephalographic findings in a pediatric population receiving care at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22491/2357-9730.126048Keywords:
Central nervous system, children, herpes encephalitisAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To describe the experience of the Pediatric Neurology Sector at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil, with the diagnosis and treatment of herpes
encephalitis.
METHODS: Review of medical records of all patients between 0 and 12 years of age receiving care at the Hospital with a diagnosis of herpes encephalitis between January of 1998 and January of 2001.
RESULTS: Seven patients were identified (six were white, four were male). Mean age was 20.6 months. The most frequent clinical finding was fever, followed by deterioration of consciousness level, flu-like symptoms, oral lesions, seizures and irritability. All patients had altered electroencephalographic results with paroxysm over the left hemisphere. In six patients there was slow activity and temporal localization. Computed tomography was performed in five patients. Pathologic findings were present in four cases. The analysis of cerebrospinal fluid revealed features resembling lymphomonocytic encephalitis. All patients used acyclovir during 21 days. There were no deaths.
RESULTS: Our findings are similar to those reported in the literature. Differently from other studies, we observed a predominance of cases of herpes encephalitis between November and January – six cases out of seven, four being in January
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