Abstract

SANCHEN CASAS, Alexis; RODRIGUEZ FERNANDEZ, Olga María; CORDERO RODRIGUEZ, Magaly  and  SARMIENTO PEREZ, Luis Raymond. Enterovirus frequency in children with viral meningoencephalitis. MEDISAN [online]. 2014, vol.18, n.7, pp.908-914. ISSN 1029-3019.

Introduction: the enterovirus is one of the causal agents usually affecting the central nervous system. Objectives: to determine the enterovirus frequency in children hospitalized with meningoencephalitis. Methods: a descriptive-observational study of 66 infants with viral meningoencephalitis admitted in "Dr. Eduardo Agramonte Piña" Provincial Pediatric Hospital was carried out in Camagüey province from January, 2011 to July, 2012. Results: 26.6% of the affected ones were isolated due to enterovirus in the year 2011 and 84.3% in 2012. The diagnosed agent was ECHO virus 30, which affected all the ages with positivity between 63.0 and 100.0%. The male sex prevailed (78.4%) coming from 11 municipalities, with positivities higher than 70% in Florida and Camagüey. The predominant symptoms were migraines, fever, vomits and general uneasiness. Most of the patients had a cytochemical study of the cerebrospinal fluid from 10 and 199 cells per 106/L with lymphocytes prevalence. Conclusions: great number of the affected patients had a satisfactory clinical course with hospital stay of just 4 days

Keywords : enterovirus; viral meningoencephalitis; ECHO virus 30; secondary health care.