A retrospective study involved 110 patients (72 males, 38 females, aged from 1 - 76 years) who underwent surgery for brain abscesses at ViÖt -§øc Hospital from January 1990 to December 1993. 79 patients with brain abscesses were found bacteria in culture. The bacteria were not identified in 31 patients. Results: Rate of bacterial isolation in brain abscesses is quite high. Among these, streptococci make up 37.7%, staphylococci 23.8%, and anaerobic bacteria 17.5%. Streptococci and staphylococci are cause of more than 90% of secondary brain abscesses due to localized infection. Postoperative antibiotics reduced significantly the bacterial isolation rate, comparison with that rate of 87.5% on patients who have not used antibiotics before operation. Rate of recurrence is 7.6% in the patients who were isolated bacteria and 25.8% in the patients who were not identified bacteria.
Brain Abscess ; Central Nervous System Bacterial Infections ; Bacterial Infections

Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) is a zoonotic disease caused by the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) complex. This disease has not yet been reported in China, and it is therefore essential to establish a rapid and accurate method for detection of the virus in order to prevent and control this disease. In this study, a one-step real-time quantitative RT-PCR method was developed for the detection of the VEEV complex. A pair of specific primers and a Taqman probe were designed corresponding to a conserved region of the VEEV gene nspl, allowing the detection of all known strains of different sub- types of the virus. Using RNA synthesized by in vitro transcription as template, the sensitivity of this method was measured at 3.27 x 10(2) copies/microL. No signal was generated in response to RNA from Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), nor to RNA encoding the nsp1 fragment of Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EE-EV) or Western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV), all of which belong to the same genus as VEEV. This indicates that the method has excellent specificity. These results show that this one-step real-time quantitative RT-PCR method may provide an effective tool for the detection of VEEV in China.
China ; DNA Primers ; genetics ; Encephalitis Virus, Venezuelan Equine ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Encephalomyelitis, Venezuelan Equine ; virology ; Humans ; RNA, Viral ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods

In this review, we mainly focus on zoonotic encephalitides caused by arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) of the families Flaviviridae (genus Flavivirus) and Togaviridae (genus Alphavirus) that are important in both humans and domestic animals. Specifically, we will focus on alphaviruses (Eastern equine encephalitis virus, Western equine encephalitis virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus) and flaviviruses (Japanese encephalitis virus and West Nile virus). Most of these viruses were originally found in tropical regions such as Africa and South America or in some regions in Asia. However, they have dispersed widely and currently cause diseases around the world. Global warming, increasing urbanization and population size in tropical regions, faster transportation and rapid spread of arthropod vectors contribute in continuous spreading of arboviruses into new geographic areas causing reemerging or resurging diseases. Most of the reemerging arboviruses also have emerged as zoonotic disease agents and created major public health issues and disease epidemics.
Africa ; Alphavirus* ; Animals, Domestic ; Arboviruses* ; Arthropod Vectors ; Asia ; Encephalitis ; Encephalitis Virus, Venezuelan Equine ; Encephalitis Virus, Western Equine ; Encephalitis Viruses ; Encephalomyelitis, Equine ; Epidemiology* ; Flaviviridae ; Flavivirus* ; Global Warming ; Humans ; Population Density ; Public Health ; South America ; Togaviridae ; Transportation ; Urbanization ; Zoonoses

Objective: Bacterial meningitis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality if not diagnosed and treated early. Isolation of the causative agent from cerebrospinal fluid culture is the gold standard for the diagnosis of this condition; however, it takes several days for results to be available. The FilmArray™ Meningitis/Encephalitis (ME) panel is a nucleic acid-based test that allows simultaneous detection of 14 bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens in the cerebrospinal fluid with a rapid turnaround time. Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the ME panel in detecting bacterial pathogens in the cerebrospinal fluid of adult patients with suspected bacterial meningitis in a tertiary hospital in the Philippines. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of hospital records of adult patients with suspected bacterial meningitis who were admitted at our institution and underwent diagnostic testing with the FilmArray™ ME panel from January 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019. Overall percent agreement, sensitivity, and specificity for individual bacterial pathogens included in the panel were determined. Results: A total of 88 cerebrospinal fluid samples were included in the analysis of diagnostic accuracy. The ME panel demonstrated 93.2% overall agreement, 50% sensitivity for E. coli, and 99–100% specificity in comparison with CSF culture in detecting bacterial pathogens that are included in the ME panel. Conclusion The results show that the FilmArray™ ME panel has high diagnostic accuracy and can be utilized in the rapid diagnosis and targeted treatment of patients with suspected bacterial meningitis.
Meningitis, Bacterial ; Central Nervous System Infections

Various new technologies have been applied for developing vaccines against various animal diseases. Virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine technology was used for manufacturing the porcine circovirus type 2 and RNA particle vaccines based on an alphavirus vector for porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Although VLP is classified as a killed-virus vaccine, because its structure is similar to the original virus, it can induce long-term and cell-mediated immunity. The RNA particle vaccine used a Venezuela equine encephalitis (VEE) virus gene as a vector. The VEE virus partial gene can be substituted with the PED virus spike gene. Recombinant vaccines can be produced by substitution of the target gene in the VEE vector. Both of these new vaccine technologies made it possible to control the infectious disease efficiently in a relatively short time.
Alphavirus ; Animal Diseases ; Animals* ; Circovirus ; Communicable Diseases ; Diarrhea ; Encephalitis Virus, Venezuelan Equine ; Encephalomyelitis, Equine ; Immunity, Cellular ; Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus ; RNA ; Vaccines ; Vaccines, Synthetic ; Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle ; Venezuela

Brain abscess is a common bacterial infection of the central nervous system. Previously, the most common source of brain abscess is from the otorrhinologic infection, the hematogenous spread of infection from a distant site to the central ner vous system is increased(Alvord & Shaw, 1977; Zimmerman & Weingerten, 1991). Since intact brain parenchyma is usually resistant to inecton, focal areas of ischemia or necrosis are a prequisite to invasion by pathogenic microorganisms(Patric & Kaplan, 1988). There have been a few reports about the stroke lesions changed into brain abscess(Chen et al, 1995; Scully et al. 1991). We report serial brain images with the clinical observations in a patient with a transformation of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage into brain abscess.
Bacterial Infections ; Brain Abscess* ; Brain* ; Central Nervous System ; Cerebral Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Necrosis ; Stroke

Authors report on the general features of postoperative central nervous system infection in patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures. The postoperative central nervous system infection was defined was defined as 1) emergence of purulent material from any site that had been exposed to surgical field, and/or 2) development of meningitis during postoperative recovery period. The materials were obtained from 50 cases of postoperative central nervous system infection out of 1,232 cases of operations that had been performed in neurosurgical department of Seoul National University Hospital during the last three years. Various predisposing factors, associated problems, and therapeutic aspects are discussed. General features of hospital infection are also considered.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Causality ; Central Nervous System Infections* ; Central Nervous System* ; Cross Infection ; Humans ; Meningitis ; Neurosurgical Procedures ; Seoul ; Wound Infection

Secondary opportunistic central nervous system infections occur in approximately one-third of patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. With the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy, the number of opportunistic infection cases has significantly decreased. However, the number of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) cases caused by opportunistic human JC polyomavirus has not decreased at a noticeable rate. In this report, seven patients with PML were evaluated at the infectious disease unit of the National Medical Center. Six of the 7 patients were not on antiretroviral therapy at the time of diagnosis. The mean patient age of the 6 men and 1 woman was 39 years. The individual CD4 cell counts were 58, 6, 18, 73, 90, 252, and 94 cells/microliter. The mean CD4 cell count was 84 cells/microliter. The most common clinical manifestation was focal weakness and the temporal lobe was mainly involved. Two of the patients died 52 days after the diagnosis was made. Three patients survived for more than 1 year without disease progression. We conclude that one must take a careful patient history, perform a neurological examination, and examine brain magnetic resonance images in patients with human immunodeficiency virus who show neurological symptoms.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active ; Brain ; CD4 Lymphocyte Count ; Central Nervous System Infections ; Communicable Diseases ; Disease Progression ; Female ; HIV ; Humans ; JC Virus ; Leukoencephalopathy, Progressive Multifocal ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Male ; Neurologic Examination ; Opportunistic Infections ; Temporal Lobe

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an acute inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. It is thought to be an autoimmune mediated disorder which occurs usually after viral or bacterial infections, or after immunization. The clinical manifestations reflect sudden onset of the diffuse involvement of the brain, spinal cord and the meninges. We experienced two cases of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. The diagnoses were made by history, neurologic examination, CSF analysis and brain MRI. The symptoms were improved with steroid treatment. A brief reveiw of literatures also was made.
Bacterial Infections ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated* ; Immunization ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Meninges ; Neurologic Examination ; Spinal Cord

No abstract available.
Central Nervous System Infections* ; Central Nervous System*