Rabies encephalitis

Abstract

Rabies is an almost always fatal disease that physicians and patients dread due to its dismal prognosis and limited treatment options. Transmission of this disease occurs through the bite of dogs and wild animals (like jackal in our case). Other rare forms of transmission may be through inhalation in bat-infested caves and human-to-human transmission by infected corneal transplants, solid organ and tissue transplantation, and sometimes in laboratory settings. Its diagnosis is usually clinical in the absence of availability of special laboratory investigations at the point-of-care facility. Few people have described the role of imaging in diagnosis. We hereby report a patient with rabies encephalitis, having a history of jackal bite and classical MRI findings that we can use for early diagnosis in the absence of typical clinical features and specialised diagnostic testing.

Keywords: infection (neurology); neurology; radiology.

Figure 1

T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI image showing bilateral basal ganglia and thalamic hyperintensities.

Figure 2

T2-weighted MRI images showing (A) bilateral basal ganglia and thalamic hyperintensities and (B) ventral pontine hyperintensities (depicted by arrows).