Viral encephalitis differential diagnosis

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, MBBS [2]; Anthony Gallo, B.S. [3]

Overview[edit | edit source]

Encephalitis must be differentiated from other neurologic diseases such as brain abscess, meningitis, status epilepticus, and subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Differential Diagnosis[edit | edit source]

Complete Differential Diagnosis of the Causes of Encephalitis[edit | edit source]

Diseases	Diagnostic tests				Physical Examination					Symptoms			Past medical history	Other Findings
Diseases	Na+, K+, Ca2+	CT /MRI	CSF Findings	Gold standard test	Neck stiffness	Motor or Sensory deficit	Papilledema	Bulging fontanelle	Cranial nerves	Headache	Fever	Altered mental status	Past medical history	Other Findings
Brain tumour^[1]^[2]		✔	Cancer cells^[3]	MRI		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔		Cachexia, gradual progression of symptoms
Delirium tremens		✔		Clinical diagnosis		✔	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔	Alcohol intake, sudden witdrawl or reduction in consumption	Tachycardia, diaphoresis, hypertension, tremors, mydriasis, positional nystagmus,
Subarachnoid hemorrhage^[4]		✔	Xanthochromia^[5]	CT scan without contrast^[6]^[7]	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	Trauma/fall	Confusion, dizziness, nausea, vomiting
Stroke		✔	Normal	CT scan without contrast		✔	✔		✔	✔		✔	TIAs, hypertension, diabetes mellitus	Speech difficulty, gait abnormality
Neurosyphilis^[8]^[9]		✔	↑ Leukocytes and protein	CSF VDRL-specifc CSF FTA-Ab -sensitive^[10]	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔		✔	Unprotected sexual intercourse, STIs	Blindness, confusion, depression, Abnormal gait
Viral encephalitis		✔	Increased RBCS or xanthochromia, mononuclear lymphocytosis, high protein content, normal glucose	Clinical assesment	✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔	Tick bite/mosquito bite/ viral prodome for several days	Extreme lethargy, rash hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, behavioural changes
Herpes simplex encephalitis		✔		Clinical assesment			✔	✔	✔	✔	✔		History of hypertension	Delirium, cortical blindness, cerebral edema, seizure
Wernicke’s encephalopathy			Normal				✔	✔			✔		History of alcohal abuse	Ophthalmoplegia, confusion
CNS abscess		✔	↑ leukocytes >100,000/ul, ↓ glucose and ↑ protien, ↑ red blood cells, lactic acid >500mg	Contrast enhanced MRI is more sensitive and specific, Histopathological examination of brain tissue	✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔	History of drug abuse, endocarditis, ↓ immune status	High grade fever, fatigue,nausea, vomiting
Drug toxicity											✔	✔		Lithium, Sedatives, phenytoin, carbamazepine
Conversion disorder				Diagnosis of exclusion		✔		✔		✔	✔	✔		Tremors, blindness, difficulty swallowing
Electrolyte disturbance	↓ or ↑			Depends on the cause						✔		✔		Confusion, seizures
Febrile convulsion			Not performed in first simple febrile seizures	Clinical diagnosis and EEG					✔	✔	✔	✔	Family history of febrile seizures, viral illness or gastroenteritis	Age > 1 month,
Subdural empyema		✔		Clinical assesment and MRI	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔			✔	History of relapses and remissions	Blurry vision, urinary incontinence, fatigue
Hypoglycemia	↓ or ↑			Serum blood glucose HbA1c		✔				✔		✔	History of diabetes	Palpitations, sweating, dizziness, low serum, glucose

(By organ system)

Cardiovascular	No underlying causes
Chemical / poisoning	No underlying causes
Dermatologic	No underlying causes
Drug Side Effect	No underlying causes
Ear Nose Throat	No underlying causes
Endocrine	No underlying causes
Environmental	No underlying causes
Gastroenterologic	No underlying causes
Genetic	No underlying causes
Hematologic	No underlying causes
Iatrogenic	No underlying causes
Infectious Disease	Herpes Simplex, Cat Scratch Disease, Leptospirosis, Tick-borne diseases, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Toxoplasmosis
Musculoskeletal / Ortho	No underlying causes
Neurologic	Brain Abscess, Herpes Simplex Encephalitis, Meningitis, Status epilepticus, Subarachnoid hemorrhage
Nutritional / Metabolic	Hypoglycemia
Obstetric/Gynecologic	No underlying causes
Oncologic	No underlying causes
Opthalmologic	No underlying causes
Overdose / Toxicity	No underlying causes
Psychiatric	No underlying causes
Pulmonary	Tuberculosis
Renal / Electrolyte	No underlying causes
Rheum / Immune / Allergy	Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Sexual	No underlying causes
Trauma	No underlying causes
Urologic	No underlying causes
Miscellaneous	No underlying causes

References[edit | edit source]

↑ Soffer D (1976) Brain tumors simulating purulent meningitis. Eur Neurol 14 (3):192-7. PMID: 1278192
↑ Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pmid3883130
↑ Weston CL, Glantz MJ, Connor JR (2011). "Detection of cancer cells in the cerebrospinal fluid: current methods and future directions". Fluids Barriers CNS. 8 (1): 14. doi:10.1186/2045-8118-8-14. PMC 3059292. PMID 21371327.
↑ Yeh ST, Lee WJ, Lin HJ, Chen CY, Te AL, Lin HJ (2003) Nonaneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage secondary to tuberculous meningitis: report of two cases. J Emerg Med 25 (3):265-70. PMID: 14585453
↑ Lee MC, Heaney LM, Jacobson RL, Klassen AC (1975). "Cerebrospinal fluid in cerebral hemorrhage and infarction". Stroke. 6 (6): 638–41. PMID 1198628.
↑ Birenbaum D, Bancroft LW, Felsberg GJ (2011). "Imaging in acute stroke". West J Emerg Med. 12 (1): 67–76. PMC 3088377. PMID 21694755.
↑ DeLaPaz RL, Wippold FJ, Cornelius RS, Amin-Hanjani S, Angtuaco EJ, Broderick DF; et al. (2011). "ACR Appropriateness Criteria® on cerebrovascular disease". J Am Coll Radiol. 8 (8): 532–8. doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2011.05.010. PMID 21807345.
↑ Liu LL, Zheng WH, Tong ML, Liu GL, Zhang HL, Fu ZG; et al. (2012). "Ischemic stroke as a primary symptom of neurosyphilis among HIV-negative emergency patients". J Neurol Sci. 317 (1–2): 35–9. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2012.03.003. PMID 22482824.
↑ Berger JR, Dean D (2014). "Neurosyphilis". Handb Clin Neurol. 121: 1461–72. doi:10.1016/B978-0-7020-4088-7.00098-5. PMID 24365430.
↑ Ho EL, Marra CM (2012). "Treponemal tests for neurosyphilis--less accurate than what we thought?". Sex Transm Dis. 39 (4): 298–9. doi:10.1097/OLQ.0b013e31824ee574. PMC 3746559. PMID 22421697.

Template:WikiDoc Sources

[pmid1278192-1] Soffer D (1976) Brain tumors simulating purulent meningitis. Eur Neurol 14 (3):192-7. PMID: 1278192

[pmid3883130-2] Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pmid3883130

[pmid21371327-3] Weston CL, Glantz MJ, Connor JR (2011). "Detection of cancer cells in the cerebrospinal fluid: current methods and future directions". Fluids Barriers CNS. 8 (1): 14. doi:10.1186/2045-8118-8-14. PMC 3059292. PMID 21371327.

[pmid14585453-4] Yeh ST, Lee WJ, Lin HJ, Chen CY, Te AL, Lin HJ (2003) Nonaneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage secondary to tuberculous meningitis: report of two cases. J Emerg Med 25 (3):265-70. PMID: 14585453

[pmid1198628-5] Lee MC, Heaney LM, Jacobson RL, Klassen AC (1975). "Cerebrospinal fluid in cerebral hemorrhage and infarction". Stroke. 6 (6): 638–41. PMID 1198628.

[pmid21694755-6] Birenbaum D, Bancroft LW, Felsberg GJ (2011). "Imaging in acute stroke". West J Emerg Med. 12 (1): 67–76. PMC 3088377. PMID 21694755.

[pmid21807345-7] DeLaPaz RL, Wippold FJ, Cornelius RS, Amin-Hanjani S, Angtuaco EJ, Broderick DF; et al. (2011). "ACR Appropriateness Criteria® on cerebrovascular disease". J Am Coll Radiol. 8 (8): 532–8. doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2011.05.010. PMID 21807345.

[pmid22482824-8] Liu LL, Zheng WH, Tong ML, Liu GL, Zhang HL, Fu ZG; et al. (2012). "Ischemic stroke as a primary symptom of neurosyphilis among HIV-negative emergency patients". J Neurol Sci. 317 (1–2): 35–9. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2012.03.003. PMID 22482824.

[pmid24365430-9] Berger JR, Dean D (2014). "Neurosyphilis". Handb Clin Neurol. 121: 1461–72. doi:10.1016/B978-0-7020-4088-7.00098-5. PMID 24365430.

[pmid22421697-10] Ho EL, Marra CM (2012). "Treponemal tests for neurosyphilis--less accurate than what we thought?". Sex Transm Dis. 39 (4): 298–9. doi:10.1097/OLQ.0b013e31824ee574. PMC 3746559. PMID 22421697.

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