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Auksė Mickienė, Alvydas Laiškonis, Göran Günther, Sirkka Vene, Åke Lundkvist, Lars Lindquist, Tickborne Encephalitis in an Area of High Endemicity in Lithuania: Disease Severity and Long-Term Prognosis, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 35, Issue 6, 15 September 2002, Pages 650–658, https://doi.org/10.1086/342059
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Abstract
Of 250 consecutively admitted patients with central nervous system (CNS) infections who were treated during a 1-year period, all 133 patients with tickborne encephalitis (TBE) were included in a prospective follow-up study. TBE presented as mild (meningeal) in 43.6% of patients and as moderate or severe (encephalitic) in 43.6% and 12.8% of patients, respectively. Paralytic disease was observed in 3.8% of the subjects, and cranial nerve injury was observed in 5.3%. One patient died of TBE. Permanent CNS dysfunction after 1 year was found in 30.8% of patients; in 8.5% of all TBE cases, severe disabilities required adjustment of daily activities. Corticosteroid treatment did not seem to improve outcome. A progressive course of TBE was noted in 2 patients. The risk of incomplete recovery was significantly higher among patients with the encephalitic form of TBE (odds ratio, 4.066; 95% confidence interval, 1.848–8.947). In conclusion, TBE is an important pathogen in CNS infection in the Kaunas region of Lithuania, and it causes long-lasting morbidity in one-third of cases.
- encephalitis
- adrenal corticosteroids
- central nervous system
- central nervous system infection
- central nervous system dysfunction
- glucocorticoids
- cranial nerve injuries
- follow-up
- lithuania
- paralysis
- infections
- mineralocorticoids
- morbidity
- pathogenic organism
- pathogenicity
- symptom onset
- severity of illness
- severe disabilities