Long term outcome of neonatal West Nile Virus neuroinvasive infection

Abstract

West Nile virus is currently one of the most widely distributed zoonotic arbovirus in the world, progressing into epidemics in many countries. While most infected patients experience mild to no symptoms, thousands of West Nile virus-associated neuroinvasive cases, presenting as meningitis, encephalitis, or acute flaccid paralysis, have been reported, even in children. However, few neonatal cases have been described in literature. West Nile Virus neuroinvasive disease can lead to severe neurological disability or death, especially in infant. We report the first tunisian case of West Nile Virus meningoencephalitis in a newborn and its outcome.

Keywords

• newborn
• children
• encephalitis
• meningoencephalitis