Tick-borne meningoencephalitis in a 4.5-month-old infant

Abstract

Background: The course of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in children is supposed to be mild though severe neurological sequelae have been reported. Only occasionally infants are affected.

Patients and methods: Case report, review of literature.

Results: We describe the first case of tick-borne encephalitis in a 4.5-month-old male infant in Germany. 11 days after a tick-bite he developed acute illness with fever, focal and generalized seizures. Meningoencephalitis caused by the TBE virus was diagnosed by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis and detection of TBE-RNA in the CSF. Neurological follow-up showed no abnormalities.

Conclusions: The acute meningoencephalitis in the present case and the neurological short and long term morbidity of 3 additional published cases of TBE suggest the considerable burden of this disease in infancy. As parents can transmit the tick to their infant informations about exposure-prophylactic measurements are recommended.