A Case of Human Viral Encephalitis Caused by Pseudorabies Virus Infection in China

• Main Authors: HongNa Yang, Hui Han, Hao Wang, Yi Cui, Han Liu, ShiFang Ding
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-06-01
• Series: Frontiers in Neurology
• Subjects: pseudorabies virus; viral encephalitis; herpes simplex encephalitis; Japanese encephalitis; next-generation sequencing
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2019.00534/full

We report a human case of viral encephalitis caused by pseudorabies virus (PRV) in China. A 43-year-old man with no previous medical history presented with high-grade fever, headache and tonic-clonic seizures as well as coma. Plain computer tomography (CT) brain imaging showed hypo-density in the bilateral basal ganglia, bilateral occipital lobe, bilateral limbic lobe, and left thalamic. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) confirmed the presence of PRV in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). Regular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to confirm the presence of PRV in the CSF and blood. In addition, serological (immunological) tests were used to further validate the presence of PRV in the peripheral blood. This case suggested that it was possible for PRV to result in human central nervous system (CNS) infection, and it is necessary for people to increase awareness of self-protection when contacting animals.