Epidemiological trends in viral meningitis in England: Prospective national surveillance, 2013-2023.

Background: In the conjugate vaccine era, viruses are the most common cause of meningitis. Here, we evaluated epidemiological trends in laboratory-confirmed viral meningitis across all age-groups over an 11-year period in England.

Methods: In England, hospital laboratories routinely report laboratory-confirmed infections electronically to the UK Health Security Agency.

West Nile virus meningitis presenting with migrainous headache.

West Nile Virus (WNV) infection is a clinical picture that is transmitted from wild birds, its natural host, to humans through mosquitoes and generally shows an asymptomatic course. Influenza-like WNV fever is frequently seen in symptomatic individuals, and a neuroinvasive course is more rarely observed. Neuroinvasive WNV has a broad-spectrum profile of neurological signs and symptoms.

Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody-Associated Disease (MOGAD) Initially Presenting as Septic Meningoencephalitis in a 16-Year-Old Male.

Background: We describe a case of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) in a 16-year-old patient who initially presented with clinical features of septic meningoencephalitis. This case outlines the importance of considering a diagnosis of MOGAD in patients who fail to improve with appropriate antimicrobial therapy or show a positive clinical response to glucocorticoids (often used in treatment of meningococcal meningitis). We emphasise the importance of recognising that an infectious prodrome can precede MOGAD.

A unique case of double meningitis with enterovirus and reactivated varicella-zoster virus in a male teenager.

This paper presents a unique case of double meningitis with enterovirus and reactivated varicella-zoster virus without shingles in an immunocompetent male teenager, a case that offers many important medical lessons, all "gravitating" around physiopathological reasoning of any clinical case in general.

A 3-month-old neonatal rhesus macaque HFMD model caused by coxsackievirus B1 infection and viral tissue tropism.

Coxsackievirus B1 (CVB1), an enterovirus with multiple clinical presentations, has been associated with potential long-term consequences, including hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), in some patients. However, the related animal models, transmission dynamics, and long-term tissue tropism of CVB1 have not been systematically characterized. In this study, we established a model of CVB1 respiratory infection in rhesus macaques and evaluated the clinical symptoms, viral load, and immune levels during the acute phase (0-14 days) and long-term recovery phase (15-30 days).

No detection of tick-borne encephalitis virus RNA in blood, urine or saliva of hospitalised immunocompetent tick-borne encephalitis patients.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is usually diagnosed based on the presence of TBE virus (TBEV)-specific IgM and IgG antibodies in serum. However, antibodies induced by vaccination or cross-reactivity to previous flavivirus infections may result in false positive TBEV serology. Detection of TBEV RNA may be an alternative diagnostic approach to detect viral presence and circumvent the diagnostic difficulties present when using serology.

Geography and public health: analysis of the epidemiological dynamics of meningitis in Brazil, between 2010 and 2019.

Objective: To analyze the spatiotemporal epidemiological dynamics of meningitis in Brazil, between 2010 and 2019.

Methods: Descriptive ecological study with cases and deaths due to meningitis in Brazil (2010-2019) in the National Notifiable Diseases Information System (Sistema de Informações de Agravos de Notificação - SINAN). The following analyses were performed: (I) frequency analyses of cases and deaths, prevalence rates, mortality, lethality, Fisher's exact test, and chi-square test; (II) Prais-Winstein regression; and (III) Global, Local Moran's index, and Kernel density.

Time to Confirmed Neuroinfectious Diagnoses: Diagnostic Testing and Resource Allocation.

Background And Objectives: In a retrospective study evaluating the diagnostic approach of definitive neurological infections at a tertiary referral center, we assessed the time to diagnosis from presentation, number of diagnostic tests ordered, and modality of etiologic diagnosis.

Methods: A total of 111 confirmed clinical cases of neurological infections from 2010-2018 were reviewed. Definitive neuroinfectious diagnoses were defined by positive cerebrospinal (CSF) polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/antigen, CSF culture, CSF antibody, serology, or pathology tests.

Epidemiology and aetiology of the 2023 meningitis outbreak among children in Iraq.

Background: Meningitis is still a major public health challenge globally. Both the viral and bacterial forms of the disease have been reported worldwide. In 2023, around 200 children with suspected meningitis were admitted to hospital in Halabja Governorate, Iraq.

Insights into the genetic characteristics, clustering patterns, and phylogeographic dynamics of the JC polyomavirus, 1993 to 2023.

The human JC polyomavirus (JCV) is a widespread, neurotropic, opportunistic pathogen responsible for progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) as well as other diseases in immunosuppressed individuals, including granule cell neuronopathy, JCV-associated nephropathy, encephalitis, and meningitis in rare cases. JCV classification is still unclear, where the ICTV (International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses) has grouped all the strains into human polyomavirus 2, with no classification on clade and subclade levels. Therefore, JCV strains were previously classified using different genomic regions, e.

Fifty years after the first identification of Toscana virus in Italy: Genomic characterization of viral isolates within lineage A and aminoacidic markers of evolution.

Toscana Virus (TosV) was firstly isolated from phlebotomine in our Institute about fifty years ago. Later, in 1984-1985, TosV infection, although asymptomatic in most cases, was shown to cause disease in humans, mainly fever and meningitis. By means of genetic analysis of part of M segment, we describe 3 new viral isolates obtained directly from cerebrospinal fluid or sera samples of patients diagnosed with TosV infection in July 2020 in Tuscany region.

Acyclovir treatment of varicella-zoster virus meningeal infections and acute kidney injury: a multicentre case series study.

Background: Systematic treatment with intravenous acyclovir is usually given when varicella zoster virus (VZV) DNA is isolated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), indicating central nervous system (CNS) involvement. Our study aimed to describe therapeutic management and acute kidney injury (AKI) occurrence during acyclovir treatment of VZV infection with CNS involvement.

Methods: Multicentre, retrospective study including all patients from 2010 to 2022 with VZV DNA in CSF.

Retinal microglia express more MHC class I and promote greater T-cell-driven inflammation than brain microglia.

Introduction: Macrophage function is determined by microenvironment and origin. Brain and retinal microglia are both derived from yolk sac progenitors, yet their microenvironments differ. Utilizing single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from mice, we tested the hypothesis that retinal and brain microglia exhibit distinct transcriptional profiles due to their unique microenvironments.

Anti-PD-L1 Immunotherapy of Chronic Virus Infection Improves Virus Control without Augmenting Tissue Damage by Fibrosis.

Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors, albeit commonly used against tumors, is still at its infancy against chronic virus infections. It relies on the reinvigoration of exhausted T lymphocytes to eliminate virus-infected cells. Since T cell exhaustion is a physiological process to reduce immunopathology, the reinvigoration of these cells might be associated with an augmentation of pathological changes.

Seroprevalence of West Nile Virus in Tampa Bay Florida Patients Admitted to Hospital during 2020-2021 for Respiratory Symptoms.

West Nile virus (WNV) is an arbovirus spread primarily by mosquitoes, with humans being a dead-end host. WNV was introduced to Florida in 2001, with 467 confirmed cases since. It is estimated that 80 percent of cases are asymptomatic, with mild cases presenting as a non-specific flu-like illness.

Clinical and Diagnostic Features of West Nile Virus Neuroinvasive Disease in New York City.

West Nile virus (WNV) neuroinvasive disease (WNND) occurs in approximately 1 percent of WNV-infected patients and typically presents as encephalitis, meningitis, or acute flaccid paralysis (AFP). WNND remains a difficult inpatient diagnosis, creating significant challenges for prognostication and therapy selection. We characterized the clinical and diagnostic features of WNND cases at two major academic medical centers in New York City in routine clinical practice.

Tenascin-C in patients with central nervous system infections.

Background: The extracellular matrix protein tenascin-C has been discovered to be an important regulator of the response to tissue injury and repair in cerebrovascular diseases. This study investigated if tenascin-C is released in response to infections in the central nervous system (CNS).

Methods: Tenascin-C concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was measured in patients, (>18 years) with and without CNS infections, admitted to a department of infectious diseases in Denmark.

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Following Childhood Viral Meningitis in Canterbury New Zealand.

Background: Most childhood meningitis is viral in countries with widespread conjugate vaccine use. This study assessed clinical features and neurodevelopmental outcomes in preschool children following enteroviral and parechoviral meningitis.

Methods: Children 18-42 months of age in Canterbury, New Zealand were included, who had enterovirus (EV) or parechovirus (HPEV) meningitis from 2015 to 2021.