Update and new insights in encephalitis

Abstract

Infectious encephalitis is a rare but severe medical condition resulting from direct invasion of the brain by viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites, or indirect post-infectious immune or inflammatory disorders when the infectious agent does not cross the blood-brain barrier. Infectious encephalitis cases represent an interesting and accurate sentinel to follow up on trends in infectious diseases or to detect emerging infections. Using Pubmed and Embase, we searched the most relevant publications over the last years. We present here an update on the important findings and new data recently published about infectious encephalitis.

Keywords: Autoimmunity; Bornavirus; Chikungunya; Ebola; Encephalitis; Guidelines; Lassa; Naegleria fowleri; Next-generation sequencing; Zika.