Determining an infectious or autoimmune etiology in encephalitis.

Objectives: Early presentation and workup for acute infectious (IE) and autoimmune encephalitis (AE) are similar. This study aims to identify routine laboratory markers at presentation that are associated with IE or AE.

Methods: This was a multi-center retrospective study at three tertiary care hospitals in New York City analyzing demographic and clinical data from patients diagnosed with definitive encephalitis based on a confirmed pathogen and/or autoantibody and established criteria for clinical syndromes.