Dengue Fever as A Cause of Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM)

Rn Chowdhury,Mr Siddiqui,Ms Mahbub,S Nabi,T Miah,A Talukder,Osi Hasan

doi:10.3329/jom.v12i2.8428

Rn Chowdhury, Mr Siddiqui + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3329/jom.v12i2.8428

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Abstract

Dengue fever is very common in Bangladesh. Every year a large number of urban populations suffer from this viral infection. Various presentations of dengue fever have been documented. Neurological complications in dengue fever are relatively uncommon. Among these, Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM) has been observed in very few cases. Here we present a case of 13 year old girl suffering from ADEM following dengue fever. Keyword: Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis, Dengue fever, Neurological complication.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jom.v12i2.8428 JOM 2011; 12(2): 185-187

Highlights

Dengue infection is caused by a flavivirus, and the nervous system involvement is seen with the serotypes 2 and 3
Neurologic manifestations occur in 4% to 5% of patients,[1] and it includes encephalopathy, encephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), myelitis, meningitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), facial and ulnar mononeuropathy and stroke, both ischemic and hemorrhagic.[2,3,4]
In country like Bangladesh, it would be wise to investigate for dengue infection in patients with fever and acute neurological manifestations

Summary

Introduction

Dengue infection is caused by a flavivirus, and the nervous system involvement is seen with the serotypes 2 and 3. Neurologic manifestations occur in 4% to 5% of patients,[1] and it includes encephalopathy, encephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), myelitis, meningitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), facial and ulnar mononeuropathy and stroke, both ischemic and hemorrhagic.[2,3,4] ADEM following dengue infections is very infrequent, and very few cases have been documented.[4] ADEM produces multiple inflammatory lesions in the brain and spinal cord, in the white matter. At follow up after 2 months, her headache had subsided but mild ataxia and dysarthria were still present

Discussion

Conclusion