Encephalitis: what are the causes and what diseases can it be confused with?

Encephalitis poses a significant health challenge because, in its most severe forms, it can even lead to death. This February 22like every year, commemorates the world encephalitis daya day that aims to raise awareness of this condition which can often be confused with other paintings, such as the reproach and the meningitisdue to their symptoms Similar.

Encephalitis involves a inflammation of brain and to various causes. Some of them are autoimmune, that is to say they are activated by the body’s defenses without there being an invading agent; THE infections bacterial or viral, which come from parasites, fungi or herpes viruses, ticks or monkeypox; and insect bites, among others.

“Encephalitis may cause only flu-like signs and symptoms, such as fever or headache, or it may cause no symptoms at all. Sometimes flu-like symptoms are more severe. It may also cause complicated signs such as confusion, seizures or sensory or motor problems, such as vision or hearing problems, “explain the specialists of Mayo Clinic.

Likewise, from the American health center they stated that in some cases “encephalitis can be life threatening. Therefore, the diagnostic and the treatment immediate are important because it is difficult to predict how the disease will affect each individual.”

There are two classes of encephalitis, which differ mainly in their origin. There primary encephalitis “Occurs when a virus or other agent directly infects the brain. The infection can be concentrated in a single area or generalized. The primary infection can be a reactivation of a virus which had remained inactive after a previous illness”, detailed the same experts.

Second, the secondary encephalitis, associated with a faulty reaction of the immune system, which responds to an infection in another part of the body. “Instead of attacking only the cells responsible for the infection, the immune system also mistakenly attacks healthy brain cells. Also known as post-infectious encephalitis, secondary encephalitis occurs 2 to 3 weeks after infection. initial infection.

At the time of diagnoses, encephalitis images and meningitis. In the first, the whole brain is affected, while the second pathology only attacks the outer layer of the organ. On this point, Professor Frank Erbguthmedical director of the neurology unit of the Nuremberg Polyclinic, he clarified: “In case of infection of the meninges, there are no alterations in brain functions, such as alterations in consciousness, but rather headaches, fever and stiffness. of the neck. Through these symptoms, we also try to recognize the disease”.

Unlike what happens in meningitis, people with encephalitis have more impairments in brain function. So, according to Erbghut, “the further inland the infection goes, the more the brain will be affected.”

On the other hand, one of the warning signs of encephalitis is related to psychic changes and of character of the patient. Teacher Harald Prues, which incorporates the Berlin Charity Hospital and specialist in autoimmune encephalitis, specifies: “In these cases, the people affected suddenly close in on themselves. Psychic changes are observed in many patients. Some go depressothers they hear voices oh hallucinate”.

Secondly, the professional adds that there may be speech disorders, since he observed that some patients “can’t think of the words”. In these images of mental changes or paralysis, if there is “association with fever, you should seek medical attention immediately”, warns Prüß.

He treatment mild encephalitis usually consists of medications anti-inflammatories to relieve headaches and fever. Moreover, it is essential rest in order to regain strength. If the disease is caused by a virus, the approach must target drugs antivirals. Finally, if the tests show an origin autoimmunity encephalitis, drug treatment can be initiated immunosuppressantssuch as steroids.

Regarding the risk factors, of the Mayo Clinic said that the age It’s one of them. Because? “Because certain types of encephalitis are more common or more severe in certain age groups. In general, young children and older adults are at higher risk for most types of viral encephalitis.”

On the other hand, “people who suffer HIV/AIDS, taking immunosuppressive drugs or having another disease that weakens the immune system have a higher risk of suffering from encephalitis, ”they indicated from the American health center. And they added that certain geographic regions and certain seasons of the year can attract the mosquito- or tick-borne viruses that cause this disease.

As mentioned, the causes of encephalitis are varied, and in some cases they can be associated with viruses. In this sense, recently, researchers from the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) have suggested that there is a risk “significantly elevated neurodegenerative disorders even years after a viral exposure”.

“We identified 45 viral exposures significantly associated with an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease. The largest association of effects was between exposure to viral encephalitis and Alzheimer’s disease.

To arrive at these proposals, the research team, which is part of the NIH Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias, reviewed information from a project in Finland with more than 300,000 people. In this database, the experts searched for people who had been diagnosed with neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), generalized dementia, vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis (MS).

Subsequently, they checked how many of these patients had been hospitalized for a viral disease. To confirm their hypotheses, the authors searched for these same associations in a database of 50,000 people in the UK.

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