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Steroid pulse therapy in patients with encephalopathy associated with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome.
- Source :
-
Journal of Infection & Chemotherapy (Elsevier Inc.) . May2018, Vol. 24 Issue 5, p389-392. 4p. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne infectious disease caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV). Clinical symptoms of SFTS often involve encephalopathy and other central neurological symptoms, particularly in seriously ill patients; however, pathogenesis of encephalopathy by SFTSV is largely unknown. Herein, we present case reports of three patients with SFTS, complicated by encephalopathy, admitted to Tokushima University hospital: one patient was a 63-year-old man, while the other two were 83- and 86-year-old women. All of them developed disturbance of consciousness around the 7th day post onset of fever. After methylprednisolone pulse therapy of 500 mg/day, all of them recovered without any neurological sequelae. SFTSV genome was not detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of 2 out of the 3 patients that were available for examination. In these patients, disturbance of consciousness seemed to be an indirect effect of the cytokine storm triggered by SFTSV infection. We propose that short-term glucocorticoid therapy might be beneficial in the treatment of encephalopathy during early phase of SFTSV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1341321X
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Infection & Chemotherapy (Elsevier Inc.)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 128944897
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiac.2017.11.004