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. 2023 Dec 19;61(12):e0073123.
doi: 10.1128/jcm.00731-23. Epub 2023 Nov 28.

The clinical epidemiology, management, and outcomes of patients diagnosed with encephalitis in North Carolina, 2015-2020

Anuva Fellner #  1 , Samuel White #  1 , Emmanuel Rockwell  2 , Dana Giandomenico  3 , Monica M Diaz  4 , David J Weber  1   3 , Melissa B Miller  5 , Ross M Boyce  1   3   6
Affiliations

The clinical epidemiology, management, and outcomes of patients diagnosed with encephalitis in North Carolina, 2015-2020

Anuva Fellner et al. J Clin Microbiol. .

Abstract

Despite the relatively high mortality and the difficulty in diagnosis, nearly one-third of patients hospitalized with a documented diagnosis of encephalitis did not undergo a lumbar puncture (LP). When an LP was performed, pathogen-specific testing was greatly underutilized. Infectious etiologies were most common, but over 40% of cases were idiopathic at discharge. These findings suggest that there is a substantial opportunity to improve the quality of care through more accurate and timely diagnosis.

Keywords: encephalitis; epidemiology; infectious diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Flowchart of case selection and identification.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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