Frecuencia de Agentes Virales en Niños con Afectación del Sistema Nervioso Central en el estado Zulia – Venezuela, durante el año 2007

• Main Authors: Bermúdez F John E, Levy G Alegria C, González C Kelita, Espina G Luz M, Hernández J José R, Porto de E Leticia D, Valero C Nereida J
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish
• Published: Universidad del Zulia,Facultad de Medicina,Departamento de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Tropicales 2011
• Subjects: Dengue; Encefalitis; LCR; Sarampión; VHS; CSF; encephalitis; measles; HSV; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/45b4deeb53bd423ebed6e070873f7e89

Abstract: Introduction: Various viruses affect the central nervous system (CNS) causing encephalitis, mainly in pediatric patients. Objective: To determine the involvement of viral agents for central nervous system (CNS) infections in children in the State of Zulia, Venezuela during the year 2007. Patients and Methods: 109 samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum were collected from patients between 1 day and 14 years of age, who presented clinical symptoms suggestive of CNS involvement and whose conventional CSF bacteriological study proved negative. The CSF Albumin /serum relationship was determined in order to rule out contamination, resulting in 24 optimal pairs for determining the IgM and IgG antibodies specific for herpes simplex virus (HSV), Epstein Barr (EBV), Dengue fever, rubella, measles and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) using the ELISA technique. Results: Of the 24 cases examined, 15 (62.5%) were positive. The causative agents for encephalitis were 11 cases of Dengue (45.8%) (p<0.05), 3 VHS (12.5%) and 1 case of EBV (4.2%). There were no cases of rubella, measles or VEE. Pleocytosis with lymphocyte predominance was the most common finding in cases with confirmed viral encephalitis (VE), without significant differences related to the infecting viral agent. Conclusions: Results show that a significant proportion of encephalitis in children is due to viral agents, highlighting an increase in dengue cases with CNS affection in the region. Resumen: Introducción: Diversos virus afectan el sistema nervioso central (SNC) ocasionando encefalitis, principalmente en la edad pediátrica. Objetivo: Determinar la implicación de agentes virales en infecciones del sistema nervioso central (SNC) en niños del estado Zulia, Venezuela durante el año 2007. Población y Métodos: Se recolectaron 109 muestras de líquido cefalorraquídeo (LCR) y suero, provenientes de pacientes entre 1 día de nacido a 14 años, que presentaron sintomatología clínica sugestiva de afectación del SNC y cuyo estudio bacteriológico ...