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Review
. 2018 Jun;31(3):313-317.
doi: 10.1097/WCO.0000000000000556.

Viruses have multiple paths to central nervous system pathology

Shannon C Agner  1 , Robyn S Klein  2   3   4
Affiliations
Review

Viruses have multiple paths to central nervous system pathology

Shannon C Agner et al. Curr Opin Neurol. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Although viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) are known to acutely cause pathology in the form of cytokine-mediated neural tissue damage and inflammation, the pathophysiology of neurologic sequelae after viral clearance is incompletely understood.

Recent findings: Alterations in microglial and glial biology in response to initial infiltration of immune cells that persist within the CNS have recently been shown to promote neuronal dysfunction and cognitive deficits in animal models of viral encephalitis.

Summary: The current review summarizes the current knowledge on the possible role of innate immune signaling during acute infections as triggers of neurologic sequelae that persist, and may even worsen, after clearance of viral infections within the CNS.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

S.C.A. is a coinventor and has previously received royalties on patent US 9235887 B2: Classification of biological tissue by multimode data registration, segmentation and characterization.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Localization of virus-related neurologic syndromes beyond encephalomyelitis. WNV, West Nile virus; ZIKV, Zika virus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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