[The clinical picture and etiology of meningoencephalitis in hospitalized patients in 1986].

In 1986 in the CSR 978 cases of acute meningoencephalitis were notified, incl. 184 in the capital. In a group of 129 patients aged 1 to 63 years hospitalized at the First Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Prague-Bulovka (Paediatric Faculty Charles University) in 1986 the authors investigated the clinical course of acute meningoencephalitis in relation to the causal agent of the disease. The aetiological agent was assessed by isolation from cerebrospinal fluid or by isolation from faeces with the corresponding antibody response, or by serological examination only. In children under 15 years of age the etiological agent was assessed in 36%, in adults in 65%. In the investigated group, contrary to previous years (3), tick-borne encephalitis was involved which accounted for the majority of severe cases of the disease. The severe clinical course, manifested at first by symptoms of cerebral oedema with impaired consciousness, is more frequent with advancing age. In adults tick-borne encephalitis had a severe course in one third of the patients. In the other age groups the development was favourable, in particular in the group of children aged 4-10 years. As compared with previous years, there was no fatal case, no permanent paresis as a complication of the disease (2).