Neurologic, neuropsychologic, and electroencephalographic findings after European tick-borne encephalitis in children

Abstract

Tick-borne European early summer meningoencephalitis is believed to be a benign disease in childhood. The causative RNA virus is from the same family as the West Nile virus, and the respective clinical presentations have many similarities. We studied 19 German children who had suffered from tick-borne encephalitis virus meningitis or meningoencephalitis in an endemic area and compared them with 19 matched controls. Epidemiologic data were consistent with known features of tick-borne encephalitis infection in southern Germany. None of the children studied had severe neurologic or neuropsychologic sequelae. One child developed significant clinical depression shortly after the illness. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) from children with tick-borne encephalitis were significantly slower on follow-up than control EEGs. After tick-borne encephalitis, children had a higher likelihood of having an impairment of attention and psychomotor speed. Using the Touwen neurologic examination, after tick-borne encephalitis, children had lower scores than control children on 4 of the 10 subsystems. Owing to the small sample size, it was difficult to identify risk factors for and predictors of adverse outcomes.