Rubella encephalitis in a young adult male: isolation and genotype analysis

• Published in: Infection 2011-02, Vol.39 (1), p.73-75
• Main Authors: Figueiredo, C. A., Oliveira, M. I., Afonso, A. M., Curti, S. P., Durigon, E. L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Blood - virology; Case Report; Case reports; Cerebrospinal Fluid - virology; Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; Diagnostic tests; Encephalitis; Encephalitis, Viral - diagnosis; Encephalitis, Viral - pathology; Encephalitis, Viral - virology; Family Medicine; General Practice; Genotype; Genotypes; Humans; Infectious Diseases; Internal Medicine; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - virology; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Molecular Sequence Data; Nucleic acids; Phylogeny; RNA, Viral - genetics; Rubella; Rubella - complications; Rubella - diagnosis; Rubella - pathology; Rubella - virology; Rubella virus - classification; Rubella virus - genetics; Rubella virus - growth & development; Rubella virus - isolation & purification; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology; Young adults
• ISSN: 0300-8126; 1439-0973
• DOI: 10.1007/s15010-010-0068-2

Rubella virus (RV) is the etiologic agent of a mild exanthematous disease associated with low-grade fever, lymphadenopathy, and a short-lived morbilliform rash [1, 2]. The complications of rubella are arthritis, thrombocytopenia, thyroiditis, and encephalitis, with the latter occurring in approximately 1 in 6,000 cases [3]. The severity is encephalitis as a complication of rubella is highly variable, and there is an overall mortality rate of 20%. Viral encephalitis refers to an acute inflammatory process of the brain parenchyma due to direct viral infection. The clinical presentation of viral encephalitis is non-specific and includes fever, varying degrees of alteration in sensorium with or without focal neurological deficits and/or seizures, all of which may be due as well to a variety of other infective and noninfective causes. A diagnosis of viral encephalitis can be achieved either by demonstrating the presence of viral nucleic acid or antibody in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or by isolating the virus from CSF or brain tissue. However, even under optimal conditions, 30–60% of patients with clinically suspected viral encephalitis remain undiagnosed. We report here a case of encephalitis in a young man from whom it was possible to isolate RV from the CSF and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).