What you need to know about encephalitis?
Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain.
There are several causes, but the most common is a viral infection.
Encephalitis often causes only mild flu-like signs and symptoms — such as a fever or headache — or no symptoms at all. Sometimes the flu-like symptoms are more severe. Encephalitis can also cause confused thinking, seizures, or problems with movement or with senses such as sight or hearing.
In some cases, encephalitis can be life-threatening.
Timely diagnosis and treatment are important because it's difficult to predict how encephalitis will affect each individual.
Symptoms
Most people with viral encephalitis have mild flu-like symptoms, such as:
- Headache
- Fever
- Aches in muscles or joints
- Fatigue or weakness
Sometimes the signs and symptoms are more severe, and might include:
- Confusion, agitation or hallucinations
- Seizures
- Loss of sensation or paralysis in certain areas of the face or body
- Muscle weakness
- Problems with speech or hearing
- Loss of consciousness (including coma)
In infants and young children, signs and symptoms might also include:
- Bulging in the soft spots (fontanels) of an infant's skull
- Nausea and vomiting
- Body stiffness
- Poor feeding or not waking for a feeding
- Irritability
Causes
The exact cause of encephalitis is often unknown.
But when a cause is known, the most common is a viral infection. Bacterial infections and noninfectious inflammatory conditions also can cause encephalitis.
There are two main types of encephalitis: Primary encephalitis and secondary encephalitis.
Anyone can develop encephalitis. Factors that may increase the risk include:
- Age. In general, young children and older adults are at greater risk of most types of viral encephalitis.
- Weakened immune system groups.
- Geographical regions. Mosquito- or tick-borne viruses are common in particular geographical regions.
Source
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/encephalitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20356136
