Modern clinical and epidemiological features of enterovirus meningitis

Abstract

Background. The relevance of neuroinfections is explained by the severity of its course and the high mortality rate. The number of serous meningitis increases every day. Serous meningitis is one of the most common manifestations of enterovirus infection. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to establish the main clinical and laboratory symptoms of enterovirus meningitis. Materials and methods. We have analyzed the results of dynamic clinical observation and examination of 70 patients with meningitis. According to the results of polymerase chain reaction of stool and/or cerebrospinal fluid, in 33 of them the disease was of enterovirus origin, while in the remaining 37 subjects the etiology remained unexplained. Results. We found that enterovirus meningitis has a number of anamnestic, clinical and laboratory features such as: the children of the first ten years of life are more likely to be affected with enterovirus lesions of the meningeal membranes; the important epidemiological factor is holiday at the seaside; vomiting is most often reported among the early symptoms of enterovirus meningitis; the disease is characterized by a flat temperature curve with early normalization of body temperature (by day 3–5 in the majority of the patients); patients predominantly have a mixed cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis.

Keywords

• serous meningitis
• enteroviruses
• children
• diagnosis