Neurological infections: risks of globalisation and new drugs

Abstract

Each year, the highest incidence of microbial infections in the nervous system is caused by pathogens such as meningococcus, toxoplasmosis, and Cryptococcus, and by encephalitic viruses such as those that cause Japanese encephalitis. For example, this year an outbreak of viral encephalitis in northern India resulted in 2300 hospital admissions and over 400 deaths.1 The herpes virus family also accounts for many cases of encephalitic infections, as does influenza virus, with the likelihood of encephalitic infections relating each year to the severity of the pandemic.