Dengue Triggered Encephalitis
The Dengue virus is a single-stranded RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family causing Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever. Encephalopathy is a very common neurological complication of dengue fever. Dengue encephalopathy is usually secondary to multisystem derangement like shock, hepatitis, coagulopathy, and concurrent bacterial infection. Dengue encephalitis is a different entity, which occurs due to direct neuronal infiltration by the dengue virus Dengue is not classically a neurotropic virus, although there is recent evidence of direct neuronal injury. Dengue encephalitis must be thought of in differentials of encephalopathy, in patients with dengue. In such cases, neuroimaging and CSF analysis should be done whenever possible. The virus or antibody can be isolated from the serum, but the CSF samples may be negative. The dengue encephalitis is thought to be benign, but can be fatal at times. The role of an antiviral in such cases needs to be further defined because of the extensive parenchymal involvement and possible unfavorable outcome.