Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 56, 193-199, 2003

To see a printabler version of the article in the Adobe file format, click this [PDF] link.

Original Article

Encephalitis in Taiwan: A Prospective Hospital-Based Study

Tzu-Chi Lee, Ching-Piao Tsai^1*, Chih-Lun Yuan¹, Cheng-Yu Wei², Wen-Long Tsao², Rung-Jan Lee³, Su-Yi Cheih³, I-Tsong Huang³ and Kow-Tong Chen⁴

Department of Agronomy, Biometry Division, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, ¹Neurology, The Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, ²Department of Neurology and ³Department of Medical Research, Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien 970, and ⁴Center for Disease Control, Taipei 100, Taiwan

(Received July 25, 2003. Accepted November 4, 2003)

*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Neurology, The Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Sec. 2 Shih-Pai Rd, Taipei 112, Taiwan. Tel: +886-2-2871-2121 ext. 3184, Fax: +886-2-2876-6673, E-mail: cptsai@vghtpe.gov.tw

SUMMARY: To investigate encephalitis in Taiwan, a multicenter study was conducted with patients who had acute severe neurological dysfunction and suspected encephalitis from May 2000 to December 2001. Demographic data such as age, sex, and seasons were analyzed. Polymerase chain reaction analyses were performed to determine the microbiologic diagnosis. The patients included 73 males and 54 females, with a peak age of 10 - 40 years old. Microbiologic diagnoses in 86 (69%) of 124 cases involved herpes simplex virus (HSV, 45 cases), varicella zoster (16 cases), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (10 cases), cytomegalovirus (8 cases), adenovirus (5 cases), influenza (1 case), and enterovirus (1 case). Pathogens were found in 69% of the cases. Encephalitis was most likely to occur in June and July. Based on the results, HSV is still the major viral cause of encephalitis in Taiwan.

Go to JJID Homepage              Go to JJID 56 (5, 6) Contents