Nervous System Infections

Lethargic encephalitis of Ekonomo in acute and chronic forms of the course

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the girl is in a stupor Lethargic encephalitis( common Zombie disease) refers to viral diseases and has a two-phase course, also accompanied by pathological drowsiness and disturbances in eye movements.

In the acute phase, the patient falls into a kind of stupor. In addition, there are other neurological symptoms.

A detailed description of the disease was first carried out in 1917 by the Economist neurologist. Due to this, the disease received its second name.

Currently, Ekonomo's encephalitis is not diagnosed as often as it was during the First World War( when there was a real epidemic), and cases of the disease only appear only once.

The course of the disease has two forms - chronic and acute. A characteristic feature of the first is progressive brain damage, accompanied by extrapyramidal disorders and altered psyche.

In acute form, the inflammatory process in the area of ​​the medulla is activated. Time separating both stages from each other can range from several months to several years.

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Factors provocateurs

So far, it has not been possible to identify the true causative agent of lethargic encephalitis. Physicians build only some assumptions based on the fact that a certain virus, originally located in human saliva or mucus, provokes the disease.

The peculiarity is that the putative virus is not able to function outside the human body.

According to scientists, the original purpose of the virus is the central nervous system( CNS), the penetration of the virus into which occurs through the upper respiratory tract.

As a result of a large accumulation of pathogens, nerve cells undergo changes that are accompanied by a second virus. Against this background, the first clinical signs of ECONOMO disease begin to appear.

Causes of Encephalitis

Clinic of chronic and acute form

The following are common symptoms of the disease: headache and fever

  • aching, mild headaches;
  • tenderness of muscle tissue;
  • attacks of nausea and vomiting;
  • general weakness;
  • depression.

Patient accompanies a sense of shatteredness and apathy.

After the initial symptoms, a period of fever occurs, lasting up to 14 days. It is at this time that neurological symptoms are observed that indicate the presence of Encephalo encephalitis.

A person is always drowsy. Even after awakening, the patient falls asleep again, regardless of the place where he is. This condition can last for three weeks.

Some people with lethargic encephalitis, on the contrary, experience insomnia.

Acute stage of epidemical encephalitis Economon begins to develop with a temperature increase of up to 38 degrees and symptoms similar to influenza.

One typical is the oculo-allergic syndrome. It is characterized by:

  • increased drowsiness, as well as violations of sleep patterns - at night the patient suffers from insomnia, and in the daytime he sleeps;
  • disorders of eye mobility, characterized by strabismus, diplopia, and a look directed upward;
  • one-sided paresis of the sixth or seventh pair of cranial nerves.

oculo-allergic syndrome

All these symptoms in a joint manifestation form the triad of Economone. In addition, for the acute course of the disease there are also vegetative types of disorders:

  • increased greasiness and hyperemia of the face;
  • hyperhidrosis;
  • hypersalivation.

Seven to fourteen days later, hiccoughs may occur. Not always, but such kinds of hyperkinesis can be observed:

  • athetous;
  • is trochaic;
  • myoclonic;
  • is also a torsion-type dystonia.

The acute form of the disease can last up to several weeks, and in some cases much longer. Most patients after remission, which can last up to 12 months, mark the transition of the pathology to a chronic stage, which is characterized by the following clinical picture:

  • increase of muscle tone by plastic type;
  • rest tremor and akinesia;
  • the voice becomes monotonous and calm;
  • face acquires a masklike appearance;
  • shows apathy and depression;
  • among vegetative disorders hyperhidrosis and excessive salivation occur;
  • it is possible to maintain a mild oculomotor disorder.

The diagnosis is made according to the history and neurological symptoms.

Difficulties in diagnosing and treating

Encephalitis Economome is a serious enough disease that not only can not be fully treated, but its drowsiness and weakness can not be diagnosed in time and correctly, since the symptomatology can resemble many viral pathologies.

The diagnosis is possible only if there are sleep disorders, psychosensors and oculomotor abnormalities. This symptomatology, together with an increased body temperature, usually helps specialists to draw the right conclusions about the existing pathology.

Precise diagnosis is possible with magnetic resonance imaging, as a result of which different parts of the brain are examined. In this case, the presence of encephalitis will be evidenced by changes in the basal ganglia.

The chronic stage of the flow is much easier to determine. Diagnosis is carried out by the method of identifying a complex of diseases that have arisen against the background of the disease.

Treatment of Encephalitis encephalitis, as well as relief of accompanying neurological and mental disorders, seems to be one of the most difficult tasks in modern neurology and is not sufficiently effective.

A specific treatment method has not been developed so far. In the acute form of the disease, it is customary to prescribe the following drugs:

  • antiviral( Interferon, gamma globulin);Interferon
  • dehydrating( Glucose, Lasix);
  • Deoxyribonuclease;
  • ascorbic acid;
  • desensitizing agents.

In the presence of parkinsonism syndrome, in conjunction with drug therapy, surgery is used, as well as physiotherapy. Of the drugs, the most positive effect is observed after taking the medicine, which contains in its composition an aqueous extract of the spring goricvet, scopolamine and sodium bromide.

Physiotherapeutic procedures consist of taking warm baths and practicing therapeutic gymnastics.

Over the past fifteen years, there has been a wide use of surgical methods, the task of which is to destroy the subcortical formations by means of ultrasound, electrocoagulation or liquid nitrogen.

In case of acute disease, serum of convalescent and symptomatic preparations are used. Corticosteroids may also be prescribed.

Consequences and preventive measures

In 30% of cases, lethargic encephalitis occurring in the acute phase ends in a fatal outcome. The cause is respiratory dysfunction or heart failure.

Often after a severe illness in the acute form for a long time, there may be some symptoms:

  • cephalgia;
  • sleep disorders;
  • depression;
  • insomnia;
  • asthenia.

When the disease in childhood is not excluded oligophrenia, as well as mental disorders.

The chronic form of pathology is characterized by a progressive course. However, there were cases when there was a stabilization of the patient's condition. As for the full recovery, the forecast is not comforting.

bedridden Since no methods have been developed so far to isolate the pathological virus, a proactive approach is not taken.

Regardless of the fact that only isolated cases of lethargic encephalitis are now highlighted, one should not forget that there is always a risk of epidemiological manifestation.

Transmission of the pathogen is possible by airborne droplets. That is why the patient must necessarily be isolated until the moment when acute manifestations of the disease disappear.

Treatment is always performed only in a hospital. The room in which the patient was located should always be disinfected.

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