How to investigate and manage the child with suspected acute encephalitis

Abstract

The major advances in the diagnosis of acute encephalitis have been in the use of newer microbiological techniques (especially PCR) and in the use neuroimaging, particularly MRI. In every case it should be possible to provide optimum supportive treatment, although this will often require admission to an intensive care unit. Specific remedies against known or suspected infectious agents causing encephalitis are still few, and perhaps this is an area in which further progress could be made. There is also the potential for exploring the use of immunomodulating therapies in the future particularly in those encephalitides which are primarily immunologically mediated. The major advances in the diagnosis of acute encephalitis have been in the use of newer microbiological techniques (especially PCR) and in the use neuroimaging, particularly MRI. In every case it should be possible to provide optimum supportive treatment, although this will often require admission to an intensive care unit. Specific remedies against known or suspected infectious agents causing encephalitis are still few, and perhaps this is an area in which further progress could be made. There is also the potential for exploring the use of immunomodulating therapies in the future particularly in those encephalitides which are primarily immunologically mediated.