Herpes simplex serious neurological disease in young children: incidence and long-term outcome.

Objective: To determine the contribution of herpes simplex virus (HSV) to serious neurological disease.

Setting And Patients: A 3-year prospective survey of children aged 2-23 months in Britain and Ireland.

Results: 19 children had HSV central nervous system (CNS) infection; 13 aged 2-11 months had focal neuroimaging abnormalities and 11 long-term neurological sequelae.

Risk of serious neurologic disease after immunization of young children in Britain and Ireland.

Objective: We sought to investigate the risk of serious neurologic disease after immunization in early childhood.

Methods: The results of a 3-year prospective study of children (2-35 months old) in Britain and Ireland with encephalitis and/or severe illness with convulsions and fever were linked to each child's vaccine history. Cases were reported via the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit's network.