Characteristics and outcome of influenza-associated encephalopathy/encephalitis among children in a tertiary pediatric hospital in Italy, 2017–2019

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 1012 - 10
• Main Authors: Mastrolia, Maria Vincenza, Rubino, Chiara, Resti, Massimo, Trapani, Sandra, Galli, Luisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 29.11.2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Age; Ataxia; Brain; Central nervous system; Cerebrospinal fluid; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Children's hospitals; Clinical characteristics; Comorbidity; Complications; Consciousness; Convulsions & seizures; Cortex; Disease; Encephalitis; Encephalitis - diagnosis; Encephalitis - etiology; Encephalopathy; Female; Fever; Guillain-Barre syndrome; Health risks; Hospitals; Hospitals, Pediatric; Humans; Immunization; Infant; Infection; Infections; Infectious diseases; Influenza; Influenza vaccines; Influenza viruses; Influenza, Human - complications; Influenza, Human - pathology; Influenza, Human - virology; Italy; Laboratories; Male; Medical research; Meningitis; Motor skill; Nervous system; Neutrophils; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Orthomyxoviridae - genetics; Orthomyxoviridae - isolation & purification; Oseltamivir; Oseltamivir phosphate; Outcome; Pandemics; Patient outcomes; Patients; Pediatrics; Pleocytosis; Polymerase chain reaction; Respiratory symptoms; Respiratory tract; Respiratory tract diseases; Retrospective Studies; Ribonucleic acid; Risk analysis; Risk factors; RNA; RNA viruses; RNA, Viral - cerebrospinal fluid; Seasons; Signs and symptoms; Substantia alba; Tertiary Care Centers; Vaccination; Viral infections; Viruses; Italy; United States > US; Clinical characteristics; Encephalitis; Children; Encephalopathy; Influenza; Outcome

Influenza is the most frequent cause of acute upper respiratory tract infections during winter season. Although rare, neurological manifestations are known to occur during influenza infection and approximatively three-quarters of cases are in children. In this study, we aimed to characterize the bur...