Viral infections of the central nervous system in elderly patients: a retrospective study
Objectives: Very few data exist on viral meningitis and encephalitis in elderly patients (>65 years old). Methods: This study investigated the detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella zoster virus (VZV), human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6), HHV-7, HHV-8, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein–Barr vir...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2016-03-01
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Series: | International Journal of Infectious Diseases |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971216000138 |
Summary: | Objectives: Very few data exist on viral meningitis and encephalitis in elderly patients (>65 years old).
Methods: This study investigated the detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella zoster virus (VZV), human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6), HHV-7, HHV-8, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), enterovirus (EV), human adenovirus (HAdV), human parechoviruses (HPeVs), and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) through real-time PCR (RT-PCR) in patients >65 years old who had cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tested for a suspected central nervous system infection.
Results: A total of 2868 RT-PCRs were performed on 502 CSF samples. Overall, 65 positive RT-PCRs were found: 23 for HSV (35.4% of positives), 15 for EV (23.1% of positives), 14 for EBV (21.5% of positives), 12 for VZV (18.5% of positives), and one for CMV (1.5% of positives). A positive RT-PCR in CSF was detected in 24 (17.4%) patients aged ≥80 years and in 35 (9.6%) patients aged 65–79 years (p = 0.02). VZV was more frequently detected in the oldest subjects (5.9% vs. 1.6%, p = 0.03).
Conclusions: HSV was the most common viral aetiology identified in the study, with VZV infection being recognized more frequently in those patients aged ≥80 years. |
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ISSN: | 1201-9712 1878-3511 |