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Case Reports
. 2018 Jun 15:2018:bcr2018225463.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2018-225463.

Dengue fever with encephalitis: a rare phenomenon

Gaurav Baheti  1 , Varshil Mehta  2 , Menka Ramchandani  3 , Gopal Chandra Ghosh  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Dengue fever with encephalitis: a rare phenomenon

Gaurav Baheti et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

The clinical profile and presentation of patients with dengue fever may differ from asymptomatic infection to the dreadful complications like dengue shock syndrome. However, neurological complications are very rare. Dengue encephalitis occurs by a direct involvement of central nervous system by the dengue virus which is an extremely rare complication. A 33-year-old man presented with fever, vomiting and severe headache. He had one episode of generalised tonic-clonic seizure followed by an altered sensorium on the day of admission to the hospital. The diagnosis of dengue fever was confirmed by dengue serology (IgM) and (NS1) antigen assay. MRI brain was suggestive of encephalitis. Thus, the patient was treated symptomatically and discharged in stable condition with minimal neurological deficit.

Keywords: general practice / family medicine; infection (neurology); meningitis; tropical mkedicine (infectious disease).

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
MRI of the brain: (A) abnormal gyral hyperintensity in the left frontoparietal region; (B) similar pattern of abnormal hyperintensities in the hippocampal and amygdala regions on both sides; (C) thalami on both sides show hyperintensity on diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI); (D) DWI showing abnormal signal intensities in the vermis; (E) blooming is noted in the occipital region suggestive of petechial haemorrhage.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Follow-up MRI (after 2 weeks): (A) Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI images showing a reduction in the size of the lesion in the right Sylvian region; (B) FLAIR MRI images showing a reduction in the size of the lesion in bilateral thalami; (C) follow-up diffusion-weighted MRI did not show the diffusion restriction as was seen before.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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