Volume 24, Number 10—October 2018
CME ACTIVITY - Synopsis
Human Pegivirus in Patients with Encephalitis of Unclear Etiology, Poland
Iwona Bukowska-Ośko, Karol Perlejewski
, Agnieszka Pawełczyk, Małgorzata Rydzanicz, Agnieszka Pollak, Marta Popiel, Kamila Caraballo Cortés, Marcin Paciorek, Andrzej Horban, Tomasz Dzieciątkowski, Marek Radkowski, and Tomasz Laskus
, Agnieszka Pawełczyk, Małgorzata Rydzanicz, Agnieszka Pollak, Marta Popiel, Kamila Caraballo Cortés, Marcin Paciorek, Andrzej Horban, Tomasz Dzieciątkowski, Marek Radkowski, and Tomasz Laskus
Table 1
Comparison of clinical characteristics of 3 encephalitis patients infected with human pegivirus compared with patients with other forms of encephalitis, Poland, 2012–2015*
| Characteristic | Encephalitis patients infected with pegivirus |
Other encephalitis patients |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient 1 | Patient 2 | Patient 3 | Infectious cause identified, n = 41† | Unknown cause or autoimmune illness, n = 52‡ | ||
| Male sex | No | No | Yes | 30 (73) | 23 (44) | |
| Median age, y (range) | 55 | 28 | 20 | 38 (19–85) | 38 (20–82) | |
| Pharmacological immunosuppression present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (5) | 3 (6) | |
| HIV positive | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (4) | |
| Cancer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 (15) | 1 (2) | |
| Median length of hospital stay, d (range) | 41 | 30 | 8 | 12 (5–97) | 11.5 (6–79) | |
| Fever >38°C | Yes | Yes | No | 26 (63) | 18 (35) | |
| Headache | Yes | Yes | No | 22 (54) | 25 (48) | |
| Altered mental status | Yes | Yes | No | 36 (88) | 47 (85) | |
| Focal neurologic signs | No | No | Yes | 9 (22) | 10 (20) | |
| Seizures | No | No | Yes | 12 (29) | 16 (31) | |
| Stiff neck |
No |
No |
No |
7 (17) |
12 (23) |
|
| CSF analysis | ||||||
| Median leukocyte count, cells/mm2 (range) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 41 (1–1225) | 18 (1–362) | |
| Median protein level, g/L (range) |
0.68 |
0.26 |
1.63 |
0.57 (0.16–3.21) |
0.56 (0.11–3.33) |
|
| Death | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (2.4) | 0 | |
*Values are no. (%) unless otherwise indicated. CSF, cerebrospinal fluid
†Identified infections were human herpesvirus 1 (n = 22), enterovirus (n = 6), varicella zoster virus (n = 5), tick-borne encephalitis virus (n = 6), and cytomegalovirus (n = 2).
‡All markers of viral infection were negative, but 5 patients had antibodies against N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor and a diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis.
Page created: September 14, 2018
Page updated: September 14, 2018
Page reviewed: September 14, 2018
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