Eight Year-Old Girl With Herpes Simplex Encephalitis, Dysentery and Auditory Agnosia: A Case Report

Abstract

Despite advances in antiviral therapy over the past 2 decades, herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) remains a serious illness with significant risk of morbidity and mortality. HSE includes a range of clinical presentations, from aseptic meningitis and fever to a severe rapidly progressive form with mental status changes (clouding of consciousness, confusion, disorientation, personality changes) and sometimes seizures (focal or generalized), dysphagia, or other focal neurological signs. Symptoms vary in intensity early in the disease, but tend to progress rapidly. Brain CT Scan and MRI can play an important role in determining the diagnosis and extent of the disease. This case report refers to an 8-year-old girl, diagnosed with herpes encephalitis that presented with seizure, bloody diarrhea and decreased level of consciousness and restlessness who recovered clinically after acyclovir treatment.