Paper examines frequency of herpes viruses in autoimmune encephalitis patients
August 3, 2016
In a new paper published in Neurology, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology, Dr. Jenny J. Linnoila et al., “report the frequency of coexisting herpes viruses (herpes simplex virus 1 [HSV-1] or HSV-2, varicella zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus [EBV], cytomegalovirus, or human herpes virus 6 [HHV-6]) andautoantibodies in patients with encephalitis (herpes or autoimmune) in clinical laboratory service.” To read the paper visit Neurology.
The paper’s conclusion: “Autoantibodies and herpes virus DNA frequently coexist in encephalitic CSF. Some patients develop parainfectious autoimmunity following viral CNS infection (usually HSV-1 encephalitis). The significance of detecting herpes nucleic acids in others remains unclear.”
We are grateful to Dr. Linnoila for being a part of AEA’s Clinicians Network and to all of those in the medical community for their in-depth work on autoimmune encephalitis.
