[Viral etiology of aseptic lymphocytic meningitis. Twenty-four cases seen over a nine-year period (author's transl)]

Abstract

Among 208 cases of aseptic lymphocytic meningitis seen over a nine-year period, 24 were diagnosed as viral infections. Diagnosis was established by both isolation of the virus from one or several specimens (feces, pharyngeal mucus, CSF) and significant rise in specific antibody titres. The usual clinical and epidemiological characteristics of these benign infections were demonstrated in our series: prevalence in males; recrudescence in summer; infectious syndrome associated with an unequivocal, though moderately severe, meningeal syndrome, and occasionally with various visceral manifestations (exanthema, pharyngitis, acute respiratory disease, myalgia); clear CSF usually with pleiocytosis (relative but not absolute predominance of lymphocytes) and normal chemical findings. All the cases in our series were due to enteroviruses, Echo or coxsackie. Isolation of a poliovirus (type III) in one case deserves mention. Cases where clinical examination led to unequivocal diagnosis of mumps or herpes zoster were not included in our study.