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Etiology of aseptic meningitis and clinical characteristics in immune‐competent adults
Author(s) -
Han SuHyun,
Choi HyeYeon,
Kim JeongMin,
Park KwangRyul,
Youn Young Chul,
Shin HaeWon
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.24316
Subject(s) - aseptic meningitis , etiology , meningitis , medicine , viral meningitis , immunology , enterovirus , cerebrospinal fluid , varicella zoster virus , virus , pediatrics , bacterial meningitis
Viral meningitis is the most common cause of aseptic meningitis. Use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has increased the ability to determine the etiology of viral meningitis. This study used PCR analysis to evaluate the etiology of aseptic meningitis in 177 previously healthy adults over a 5‐year period, as well as analyzing the clinical characteristics, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings, and prognosis according to each etiology. The most frequent cause of aseptic meningitis was enterovirus (EV), followed by varicella zoster virus (VZV). Patients with EV meningitis were significantly younger than those with VZV meningitis. The percentage of lymphocytes in white blood cell counts and protein concentrations in the CSF differed significantly among patients with EV, VZV and meningitis of undetermined etiology. Younger age and lower percentage of lymphocyte and protein level in CSF analysis may be suggestive of EV meningitis. Further prospective studies are warranted to identify the correlations between the clinical characteristics and the etiologies of meningitis. J. Med. Virol. 88:175–179, 2016 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.