STEALTH VIRAL ENCEPHALOPATHY - REPORT OF A FATAL CASE COMPLICATED BY CEREBRAL VASCULITIS

A patient presenting with a severe subacute encephalopathy was shown t o be infected with a stealth virus. Although the patient partially rec overed, he remained lethargic with cognitive impairment and worsening headaches. Ten months after the onset of his illness, his clinical con dition further deteriorated with seizures, coma and death. A brain bio psy revealed vacuolated degenerate neural cells consistent with a stea lth viral encephalopathy. Focal perivascular lymphocytic inflammation was present within the leptomeninges and to a lesser extent within the parenchyma of the brain. Vasculitis may occasionally contribute to th e complex symptomatology of stealth viral encephalopathy.