Causes and clinical features of childhood encephalitis: a multicenter, prospective cohort study
The term ‘encephalitis’ is used to describe an inflammatory disease of the brain that is usually found in children. It imposes a serious risk to health that requires appropriate and rapid diagnosis, to prevent long-term brain damage and even death. There is an existing gap in encephalitis research that requires a study of childhood encephalitis admissions to multiple hospitals, to update the knowledge in this area. This study intended to modernise the understanding of the causes, clinical signs and risks of childhood encephalitis.
There are several additional details of the method used by this study. Data was collected from 5 hospitals in Australia that specialise in the healthcare of children; admissions to these hospitals that had suspected encephalitis cases were then reviewed by a panel of experts. This identified whether these cases were definitely encephalitis and not a ‘mimic’ of the disease (such as a bleed on the brain). Confirmed cases were then divided into three groups of causes (infection, abnormal body immune reaction and unknown), for an analysis to take place. Additional patient data that includes their demographic (e.g., age and sex) and clinical information (e.g., signs and symptoms) were then combined to the cause of their encephalitis to predict the recovery of illness. Data from all patients was then gathered to create general statistics and understanding of childhood encephalitis.
The main finding of this research was that the leading causes of childhood encephalitis in Australia are due to epidemic viral infections, that can be prevented with vaccinations. These infections are caused by bacteria that are able to spread widely and quickly and especially amongst children, which leave these persons at a high risk of developing encephalitis. It was also discovered that age is a determining factor of the likely cause of encephalitis. For example, young infants are more susceptible to parechovirus and enterovirus associated encephalitis, compared to children and young adolescents where causes may typically be encephalomyelitis and mycoplasma pneumoniae infections. Finally, it was reaffirmed that the location that someone resides in is also a factor to encephalitis disease in children, as often the virus that may have been a cause to encephalitis can be traced back to a certain region of a country.
Overall, these findings have significant value to aiding clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of suspected childhood encephalitis. Even more, these data support the importance of early detection of epidemic periods for certain viruses that may put children at risk of encephalitis. This is necessary as childhood encephalitis leads to the death of 1 child in every 20 affected, with those that survive left with severe illness.
Britton, P.N., Dale, R.C., Blyth, C.C., et al. 2020
Causes and clinical features of childhood encephalitis: a multicenter, prospective cohort study
Clinical Infectious Diseases