Infections of the nervous sytem

Question 1

What are the clinical features of encephalitis?

Answer 1

• Flu like prodrome (4-10 days)
• Progressive headaches associated with fever
- +/- meningism
- Progressive cerebral dysfunction: Confusion, abnormal behaviour, memory disturbance and depressed conscious level
- Seizures
- Focal symptoms/ signs
• Onset of viral encephalitis is generally slower than bacterial meningitis and cerebral dysfunction is a more prominent feature