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Case Reports
. 2017 Oct 26:10:371-373.
doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S143335. eCollection 2017.

Encephalitis treatment - a case report with long-term follow-up of EBV PCR in cerebrospinal fluid

Fnu Zarlasht  1 , Mashal Salehi  2 , Mohammad Abu-Hishmeh  3 , Muzammil Khan  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Encephalitis treatment - a case report with long-term follow-up of EBV PCR in cerebrospinal fluid

Fnu Zarlasht et al. Int J Gen Med. .

Abstract

Background: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been found to cause infectious mononucleosis multiple times, but has been associated rarely with EBV encephalitis. Also, whenever it is diagnosed, it is always treated symptomatically.

Case report: A case of confirmed EBV encephalitis is presented, which was treated with antiviral therapy resulting in complete clearance of the virus in cerebrospinal fluid and minimal neurologic symptoms after hospital discharge.

Conclusion: The Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines state that intravenous acyclovir is not recommended for EBV-related encephalitis. But we reviewed the literature and found similar cases, and we believe that antiviral therapy should be recommended for EBV encephalitis because it is a potentially fatal disease and if left untreated, can lead to raised intracranial pressure, craniotomy and even death.

Keywords: Epstein–Barr virus; HIV; human immune deficiency virus; intravenous.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CT scan of brain at two different levels, both show white lucencies in the white matter and around ventricles. Abbreviation: CT, computed tomography.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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