Encephalitis Essay

While many forms of encephalitis exist, West Nile Virus was first isolated and identified in the West Nile District of Uganda in 1937. The virus, which was seemingly isolated to North Eastern Africa, became recognized as a cause of severe human meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the spinal cord and brain) in elderly patients during an outbreak in Israel in 1957. In addition to the human victims of this disease, the virus was found Egypt and

Encephalomalacia is a condition that’s characterized by the softening of brain tissue due to inflammation or hemorrhage. Encephalomalacia is regarded as one of the most serious types of brain condition that can bring irreversible damage and affect the normal function of the body as a whole. In some cases, the brain is known to deteriorate and this often leads to extensive softening of the substances within. This softening can be in one specific area or spread to other areas. Tissue and organ damage is possible and may easily occur during this condition within the occipital lobe, frontal lobe, temporal lobe and parietal lobe. Effects within this specific part of the brain cause immediate stoppage of functions and is known as cerebral softening.

Individuals with mild symptoms of West Nile Virus make up about twenty percent of the populations of infected humans. This form of the disease is known as West Nile Fever. The symptoms of West Nile Fever include: fever, headache, tiredness, body aches, nausea, vomiting, swollen lymph glands, and a skin rash appearing on the back, chest or stomach. A headache and high fever are the most common indicators for a West Nile Virus infection. These mild symptoms can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks. (California Government, 2005).

Bacterial meningitis is the swelling of the meninges. In the back of the brain, there are three protective membranes called the meninges (Mandal). During bacterial meningitis, bacteria invade the brain. This causes the immune system to enter and try to stop the disease (Mandal). In doing so, the meninges swell to stop the spread the virus, but this unfortunately causes damage to the brain and spinal area (Mandal). A person would get bacterial meningitis if their body was invaded by some of the germs that can cause it.

The incidence is highest in late summer and early autumn, until the first hard frost does away with the mosquito population for that year. Birds and other animals (such as horses) are the usual reservoir for the infection, and they are involved in its dissemination. Initial viral symptoms may give way to high fever and neck stiffness (meningeal signs). However, as with most forms of encephalitis, it is the confusion and depressed levels of consciousness (stupor) that mark the infection as being of the brain (encephalitis) and not just the meninges. West Nile Virus is an acute central nervous disease (McCance & Huether, 2014).

During the physical exam, your father was conscious and alert but yet he was also disoriented and confused as to what day and year it was. Eldon also had no idea as to where he was. His blood pressure level was 160/80 mm Hg, which is high, but we closely monitored his levels. His temperature increased from 101.3° F during transport to 101.8° F during the exam. We found that there were no focal neurologic deficits, meaning that we did not find any deficiencies or diseases of the nervous system. Chest x-rays, urinalysis, and blood cultures were also negative as well. When the radiology technicians performed a Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI on Eldon, The MRI image showed that he had encephalitis. Encephalitis is an inflammatory condition of the brain. The condition is characterized by headache, fever, and nausea. Neurological disturbances can include seizures, personality change, restlessness, and disorientation. In some cases, a comatose state might occur. We also performed an electrocephalogram or EEG to record Eldon’s brain wave activity. Your father’s brain wave activity was normal for his age and showed no signs of abnormalities. The Doctor prescribed Eldon take Acyclovir, which is an antiviral agent for encephalitis. On the second

Encephalitis is a neurological disorder that results in the inflammation of the brain and sometimes the meninges. It is usually due to a viral infection. Most often arboviruses cause encephalitis, by transference via mosquitos to humans and animals. When bitten by an infected mosquito the virus moves from the mosquito into the person’s blood, it then reaches the brain and spinal cord, it multiplies within the central nervous system thus inflaming and damaging nerve cells, this interferes with signals from the brain to the rest of the body. The herpes simplex virus type one can commonly cause encephalitis. HIV has also been noted as an increasing cause of encephalitis. Viral infections like: mumps, chicken pox and measles can also cause encephalitis, but rarely.

Case Description- A 3 month-old Boer cross buck kid was confirmed to have died from an infection of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in a rural county of North Florida. Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis and Rabies were included in the list of deferential diagnoses as possible causes of neurologic symptoms that could occur in adolescent caprine.1,5 PCR analysis of fresh brain tissue preformed at Department of Health in Tampa, Florida (via the Bronson Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Kissimmee, Florida) showed positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis, then positive by virus isolation. The sample was negative for West Nile Virus, and the fluorescent antibody test for Rabies was negative.

It is amazing to me how people’s brains are so small compared to the whole body, yet it is an exceedingly complex organ that deals with so many mental and physical functions that help regulate our body. The brain is one of our main sources of operation, and so when a person’s brain is harmed or damaged in any way, there can be major consequences for that individual. One detrimental brain injury that has recently been heavily researched and talked is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a progressive degenerative disease in the brain (Comer, 2014). More light has been showed on CTE in order to raise more awareness and seek solutions in helping prevent and fix the disease. In the following paragraphs, I will explain more in detail about CTE, specifically the causes, symptoms and outcomes, and the importance of being aware of CTE.

Unlike with many diseases, West Nile Virus can be very easy or very difficult to diagnose in a patient. For instance, a patient may be asymptomatic, meaning they show no symptoms of having West Nile Virus, and it can be hard to say if this will ever change. Some patients will have mild symptoms including pyrexia (fever), cephalgia (headache), body aches, nausea, emesis (vomiting), and sometimes lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph glands) or a skin rash on the chest, stomach and back, which can last from several days to several weeks

As other areas of the brain are affected, the victim becomes more bedridden, and eventually requires total care, after a while the person becomes entirely irresponsive to the outside world.

What is West Nile Fever? West Nile fever also known as West Nile virus is a mosquito borne disease transferred from mosquito to person. Encephalitis is a disease that West nile virus can cause. What encephalitis does is it causes inflammation of the brain which in some cases can be fatal. The west Nile virus wasn’t discovered until 1937 in Africa. The disease didn’t make its way into the United States until 1999. The Virus is most common during the summer months (July- September) which is when mosquitos the carrier of the disease are most active. But in some states it is at risk all year round. Most people who are bitten and infected even receive the virus.

The severe type leads to neuroinvasive diseases, such as meningitis or encephalitis, both meaning inflammation of the brain. Other serious symptoms for West Nile Virus include stupor, disorientation, weakness, tremors and convulsions, coma, vision loss, numbness and paralysis. Out of the few that get the severe type of West Nile Virus, ten percent unfortunately do not survive. The West Nile Virus overall is not life threatening, considering only a fraction of one percent of the infected people die, but there still is that small possibility. The more severe cases of West Nile occur mainly in the elderly and those with weaker immune

disease and Alzheimer’s. Severe infection that has spread to the brain, epilepsy, stroke, and the late

Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges, membranes that surround the brain. This can extend as far as infecting the cerebral spinal fluid on top of causing the tissue to swell. Meningitis comes in two major forms; bacterially and virally. However, having bacterial meningitis is much more severe than viral meningitis. There is a lot more danger in having a bacterial infection within the brain than a viral infection within the brain. What makes bacterial meningitis so lethal is that “even when the disease is diagnosed early and adequate treatment is started, 5% to 10% of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours after the onset of symptoms. Left untreated, up to 50% of cases may die, (6) or there