Neurological complications in dengue virus infection
Keywords:
arboviruses, dengue viruses, viral encephalitisAbstract
Introduction: Neurological compromise has been described in dengue virus infection, its clinical spectrum is very broad and ranges from mild muscle dysfunction to encephalitis.
Objective: To describe the clinical, humoral and imaging characteristics of a patient with dengue encephalitis, as well as the treatment used and evolution.
Case report: We report the case of an 11 year-old female patient, with apparent healthy personal history (no chronic disease or frequent acute infections). She was admitted to Borrás - Marfán Pediatric Hospital with clinical manifestations of headache and vomiting; after that symptoms and signs of intracranial hypertension and fever associated. Supported by clinical, laboratory and imaging analysis, a diagnosis of dengue virus encephalitis was made. Cerebral edema was treated with clinical improvement after 14 days; she evolved satisfactorily.
Conclusions: Dengue virus infection generally evolves benignly, but several complications can be present, including the neurological ones. Although this virus is not the most frequent infectious aetiology of neuroinfections, it should always be taken into account, given the epidemiological context of our country. Meningoencephalitis has clinical and humoral characteristics similar to other viral meningoencephalitis due to this microorganism, so complications may appear, on which treatment and evolution depend.
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References
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